A Fantastic New Tool Shows Why Gay Marriage Initiative Will Make Ballot

Joe Mathews — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:12:00 -0400

The California Secretary of State's office has added a great new feature to its pages on ballot initiatives: daily spreadsheet updates on signature verification. As instructed by press secretary Kate Folmar (whose journalistic work is badly missed here), I went to the web site, http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_j.htm#pending_sigs, and clicked on the link Random Sample next to each initiative that is pending signature verification.

The verification data on the initiaitve that would ban gay marriage is instructive. It shows that the initiative turned in more than 1.1 million signatures for random sampling. So far the verification rate is very good -- over 83 percent on more than 20,000 signatures that have been checked. If that rate holds, the measure should qualify easily for the November ballot. (In the signature biz, 70 percent). One other thing that this data shows--the outsized role that San Diego and Orange counties play in signature gathering. Only LA produces more signatures, and per capita, both counties far surpass their neighbor to the north.

Signature Verification

A Fantastic New Tool Shows Why Gay Marriage Initiative Will Make Ballot