In July of 2007, Washington lawmakers created the domestic partner registry  within the Office of the Secretary of State. In 2008, the rights and responsibilities of domestic partners were expanded, and in 2009, the “everything but marriage” law was adopted and withstood a referendum challenge.

From 2007 through 2011, 9,659 couples (19,318 individuals) have filed for Domestic Partnership through the Office of Secretary of State’s Corporations and Charities Division.

After the 2007 law was passed 3,159 registrations were filed, for an average of 527 domestic partnerships registering each month in 2007.

Since the original boom of 2007, registrations have ranged between 1,316 and 1,898 annually. The most common age group to file for domestic partnership status are those between the ages of 31-50, followed by older persons, ages 51-61.

The registry is open to both same-sex couples and opposite gender couples with at least one partner age 62 or older.

A total of 382 couples have since filed for dissolution.  Dissolution rates are rather low, averaging at only seven monthly.

In order to qualify for domestic partnership recognition the couple must share a common residence, both persons must be at least 18, neither party may be married to, or in a domestic partnership with another person, both must be capable of consenting to the domestic partnership, the individuals cannot be nearer of kin to each other than second cousins, and either both are of the same sex, or at least one is 62 or older.

A domestic partnership allows for hospital visitation rights, as well as, allowed access to medical information, participation in health care decisions, recognition as a partner on a death certificate, the right to a partner’s estate, and the option to sue for the wrongful death of a partner.

If Marriage Equality legislation passes this session, and is upheld through a planned referendum challenge, same sex marriage will be legal in Washington beginning in December. Existing domestic partnerships, if not converted to marriage at the discretion of the couple, will gain the “marriage” title from the state by June 30, 2014. Domestic partner couples with at least one of the individuals being 62 or older will not be required to marry.

Here is a great chart showing the annual numbers, as of the end of December:

             Image Courtesy of The Secretary of State’s Corporations and Charities Division

Photo courtesy of the State Library

In mid-January we launched our “State Archives treasures” blog series, and now it’s the State Library’s turn to showcase some of their most interesting pieces! Our first “State Library jewels” post featured a road map from 1924; today we travel a little further back in time to 1912 with a book of Washington’s motor vehicle owners.

In 1912, Washington’s motor vehicle owners filed for licensing directly through the Office of the Secretary of State. The Department of Licensing was yet to be created!

There are 10, 449 Vehicle License Allotments available in this book, but the number of Washingtonians with a driver’s license at this time is not provided. Instead, the list displays the name of the owner, their address, a description of the vehicle, and the license plate number. Inside this book, all citizens who, prior to August 15, 1911, had registered with the Secretary of State’s Office for the fiscal year ending May 31, 1912, are listed.

This list was compiled by Secretary of State I.M. Howell.

We recently finished showcasing three special items housed in our State Archives. Now, it’s the State Library’s turn.

Starting this week, we’ll do a monthly feature on three of the many rare, unique or interesting items, maps and collections found in the State Library. After we show them off, you and others can vote in our online poll by choosing the State Library “contestant” you like best. After a few days, we’ll announce the January winner.

The first contestant is this 1924 road map from the State Highway Department. It shows the primary and secondary state highways that were to be completed by 1936. The map indicates there were 1,710 paved miles of highway in Washington, and another 1,400 miles that were gravel. Not a good time to be a windshield!

Long before Interstate 5 was built, the main north-south highway from Bellingham south to Vancouver was Highway 99. On this map, it’s Highway “No. 1.” And yes, there is such a place called “Forest” a few miles south of Chehalis.

This map shows that Highway “No. 2” made it possible to drive from Seattle to Spokane long before I-90 was built. Note that No. 2 generally follows a route from Seattle to Cle Elum that’s similar to where I-90 snakes along today. But then No. 2 heads north toward Leavenworth, providing a precursor to where highways 970 and 97 travel today. From the Leavenworth area, No. 2 basically follows the same path as U.S. Highway 2 currently takes to reach Spokane, except that portions of it are no longer gravel, as it was back then.

If you have an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch and want to look up charities-related information, you’re in luck. There’s an app that you can use to check out registered charitable organizations and commercial fundraisers in Washington. The info is provided by our Charities Division. Go here to learn more or to download the app. We also have apps for Corporations, the State Library’s Ask-WA program and state elections results.

Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed’s office has certified Initiative to the Legislature 502, decriminalizing marijuana and regulating it and taxing it much like liquor.  Sponsors submitted enough signatures to assure consideration by the Legislature and, failing success there, a statewide vote on the General Election ballot.

A signature-check by the State Elections Division, using a random sample, determined that sponsors had nearly 278,000 valid signatures, easily enough to cover the minimum 241,153 required.

The measure was provisionally certified to the Legislature earlier this month while the signature-check was underway, as required by the state Constitution.  That allowed the House and Senate to assign the measure to committee for hearings and any further action.  Neither chamber has announced firm plans for a public hearing.

The Legislature can pass the measure as submitted, reject it and let it go to the ballot this fall, ignore it and let it go the ballot, or let it go to the ballot along with a legislative alternative.  It has been seven years since Initiatives to the Legislature were on the state ballot. I-330 and I-336, both dealing with medical malpractice, were rejected by voters. The last successful Initiative to the Legislature was I-297 in 2004. It dealt with nuclear waste.  On occasion, the Legislature has simply enacted the initiative as submitted, as in the case of creating the presidential primary in 1989. (This year’s presidential primary has been suspended because of the budget crisis.)

Sponsors of the marijuana measure, including former U.S. Attorney John McKay, submitted 354,608 signatures, more than the Elections Division’s recommended 320,000 to cover duplicate and invalid signatures.

The 3 percent random sample of 10,845 showed that 8,774 were valid. The rest were rejected because the names were not found in the database of registered voters, a signature was missing or did not match the one on file, or was a duplicate. Projected to the full number of signatures submitted, the check showed that sponsors had 36,409 more signatures than the bare minimum, and that their error rate was 21.73 percent, somewhat higher than the average error rate of 18 percent.

The votes are in, our online poll is closed, and we know the winner of our January “Archives treasures” contest featuring items in our State Archives:  the Washington territorial seal.

The seal received 38 percent of the vote, edging the boxing license applications submitted by heavyweight greats Muhammad Ali and George Foreman (33 percent) and a photo of the Legislative Building’s construction (29 percent). Thanks to all who voted. We’ll do it again in February and every other month this year.

Now the focus shifts to the State Library. Next week we’ll introduce you to three “contestants” in a similar online poll featuring some of the great collections and other items in the State Library.  Make sure to check it out.

A House panel has passed a bill that might resolve the issue of whether the elections of Precinct Committee Officers can still be run by the state. PCOs are local Republican and Democratic Party leaders who run neighborhood precinct organizations and help fill office vacancies.

The issue surfaced last year when U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour ruled that Washington’s partisan PCO election system is unconstitutional since state voters switched to a nonpartisan Top 2 system. The judge wrote:

“Washington’s method of electing precinct committee officers is unconstitutional because it severely burdens the political parties’ ability to identify and associate with members of their respective parties. Precinct committee officers are grassroots representatives of the political parties, yet all voters, regardless of party affiliation, receive the same candidate ballot and have an opportunity to elect those officers. The political parties have a right to object to Washington’s method of determining party affiliation for these officers, and Washington has not shown that its interests in using this system outweigh the First Amendment’s special associational protections (11 JAN 2011, PG 24 Coughenhour Decision).”

Under the new version of House Bill 1860 that was OK’d by the House State Government and Tribal Affairs Committee Thursday night:
• PCO elections would be held at the August Primary Election in even-numbered years.
• If no one files for a PCO office, it will be filled by the parties.
• No write-in candidates are allowed.
• County Auditors may choose a consolidated or a physically separate ballot.
• A voter must check a box designating affiliation with a major party and may vote only for the PCO election of the party he or she affiliates with.
• A voter must check the box and vote for the party candidate associated with the affiliation selected in order for the vote to be counted.

Just before Christmas, the state Republican and Democratic parties went to court to ask that the state be ordered to continue running PCO elections. The case is set for a hearing in Thurston County Superior Court on March 23 at 9 a.m.

The parties also have asked the court to set aside new regulations by the Secretary of State’s Elections Division that ends the practice of PCO elections being included on the state Top 2 Primary ballot.

Washington voters don’t register by party. There currently are about 6,500 precincts throughout the state, so there potentially are about 13,000 PCO contests. Many of the positions go unfilled or have only one candidate.

Photo courtesy of Washington State Senate

When former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton traveled south to Olympia, he assumed he was just coming to talk with state senators about the new legislative boundaries that he and the other State Redistricting Commission members finalized recently.

But unbeknownst to Gorton, the Senate had a surprise in store for him – a resolution honoring him on his long and influential career in state and national politics.

The bipartisan resolution, sponsored by Senate Republican Leader Mike Hewitt, was read aloud while Slade, his wife, Sally and their daughter, Betsy Jack, sat at the rostrum. Afterward, many senators on both sides of the aisle praised Gorton for his years of public service.

During his brief remarks, Gorton drew laughter when he said he hopes the lawmakers are happy with their new legislative districts.

Earlier in January, Gorton was the main attraction for an event focusing on the new book about his long career, entitled “Slade Gorton: A Half Century in Politics,” written by John C. Hughes, chief historian for The Legacy Project in the Office of Secretary of State.

Photo courtesy of Washington State Archives

Believe it or not, this photo is not of last week’s monumental snow and ice storm. While the last thing anyone might want to see right now is snow and ice on roads, it’s interesting to ponder how a winter storm of this magnitude would have been handled in the 1920s. Without the help of AAA, frequent weather and traffic updates, or even freeways, Washingtonians had to dig deep to survive these storms!

This photo from our State Archives’ Department of Transportation Photograph Collection shows a group of travelers pausing to take a break in the snow at Snoqualmie Pass in 1927.

Nowadays, we have opinion polls on everything from presidential candidates to Lady Gaga’s wild attire. Not wanting to miss the poll train, we’re offering you a chance to sound off on some of our State Archives’ many interesting documents, collections, photos and other historical nuggets.

Starting this month, we’re featuring various “Archives treasures.” Over the past week, we’ve showcased three of these treasures for viewing. The first “contestant” is the state boxing license applications submitted by heavyweight legends Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. The second is one of the photos showing the construction of the Legislative Building. And the third is the territorial seal created in the 1850s.

Now it’s up to you. Please vote for your Archives treasure below. We’ll leave our poll open until 3 p.m. this Friday and then we’ll announce the winner later that afternoon, assuming we don’t have another power outage like last week!

#1 Boxing legends’ license applications#2 Legislative Building construction photos  #3 Territorial seal

What is your favorite Archives treasure?

• Territorial seal (38%)
• Boxing legends’ license applications (33%)
• Legislative Building construction photos (29%)

Total Voters: 91

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