WSR 97-17-035

PERMANENT RULES

SECRETARY OF STATE

[Filed August 13, 1997, 4:07 p.m.]

Date of Adoption: August 13, 1997.

Purpose: To make the rule governing the verification of signatures on initiative and referendum petitions consistent with RCW 29.79.200.

Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Amending WAC 434-79-010.

Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 29.79.200 and 29.04.080.

Adopted under notice filed as WSR 97-13-094 on June 18, 1997.

Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, amended 0, repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, amended 0, repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, amended 0, repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, amended 0, repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's own Initiative: New 0, amended 1, repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, amended 1, repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, amended 0, repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, amended 0, repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, amended 0, repealed 0.

Effective Date of Rule: Thirty-one days after filing.

August 13, 1997

Donald F. Whiting

Assistant Secretary of State

AMENDATORY SECTION (Amending Order 78-2, filed 7/17/78)

WAC 434-79-010 Random sampling procedure. In the verification of signatures on initiative and referendum petitions, ((pursuant to)) under RCW 29.79.200 ((and 29.79.220, when the number of signatures submitted is more than 110 percent of the number of signatures required by Article II, Section 1A of the Washington State Constitution)), the following statistical test may be employed:

(1) Take an unrestricted random sample of the signatures submitted;

(2) Check each signature sampled to determine the number of valid signatures in the sample, the number of signatures in the sample which are invalid because the individual signing is not registered or the signature is improper in form, and the number of signatures which are duplicated in the sample;

(3) Calculate an allowance for the chance error of sampling by multiplying the square root of the number of invalid signatures in the sample by 1.5;

(4) Estimate the upper limit of the number of signatures in the population which are invalid by dividing the sum of the invalid signatures in the sample and the allowance for the chance error of sampling by the sampling ratio, i.e. the number of signatures sampled divided by the number of signatures submitted;

(5) Determine the maximum allowable number of pairs of signatures in the population by subtracting the sum of ((110 percent of)) the number of signatures required by Article II, Section 1A of the Washington state constitution and the estimate of the upper limit of the number of invalid signatures in the population from the number of signatures submitted;

(6) Determine the expected number of pairs of signatures in the sample by multiplying the square of the sampling ratio by the maximum allowable number of pairs of signatures in the population;

(7) Determine the acceptable number of pairs of signatures in the sample by subtracting 1.65 times the square root of the expected number of pairs of signatures in the sample from the expected number of pairs of signatures in the sample;

(8) If the number of pairs of signatures in the sample is greater than the acceptable number of pairs of signatures in the sample, each signature shall be canvassed to determine the exact number of valid signatures;

(9) If the number of pairs of signatures in the sample is less than the acceptable number of pairs of signatures in the sample, the petition shall be deemed to contain sufficient signatures and the serial number and ballot title shall be certified to the state legislature as provided in RCW 29.79.200 or to the county auditors as provided in RCW 29.79.230.