SEATTLE – Read it before you sign it.
That's the message from the Washington Secretary of State's Office about initiative ballots that are being collected nearly everywhere.
The people behind the Initiative 1068 campaign to legalize marijuana in our state say they're being cheated by some petitioners who are paid per signature.
"These guys that come up from California are mad dogs," said I-1067 organizer Philip Dawdy.
Dawdy says a petitioner for the soda tax repeal made a sneaky ballot switch. He says the guy told voters they were signing for marijuana, but he gave them the soda ballot instead. Dawdy says he even has a picture that shows it.
How might someone fool the signer? By folding the title under the page.
"It's a slight of hand trick that apparently goes on," said Dawdy.
For professional petitioners, a signature can bring up to $3 each.
It's difficult to keep track of all the initiative ballots that are out on the street right now. There's a mad rush to get signatures with the July 2 deadline to turn in the petitions looming.
The marijuana campaign asks that you to be careful about what you sign.
"I do feel cheated and robbed and I know all the volunteers who have worked extremely hard for us feel cheated and robbed by this kind of deception and fraud that goes on in the field," says Dawdy.
The soda initiative people say the claim is ridiculous and that they don't have to trick anyone into signing their petitions.
The Secretary of State's Office says, legally, it's up to the signer to read what they are signing.
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