I posed a question to David Ammons from the Secretary of State’s office about when someone must be registered to vote in order for their signature to be counted on a petition and this is his response:
For purposes of processing an initiative or referendum, there is no clear deadline for registering to vote. When describing who may sign a petition, state law uses both the term “legal voter” and the term “registered voter.”
“It has been the historical practice for all initiative and referendum campaigns that they register people to vote, or ask people to update their registrations, at the same time that they ask people to sign the petitions. So many people fill out a voter registration application at the same time that they sign a petition.
“Some of those voter registration applications are turned in right away, and some are turned in when the petitions are submitted. Some applications are processed months or weeks before the petition deadline, and some are processed later. Consequently, the determining factor will be, Was the signer registered to vote when the signature is checked?”
So is that at the initial check or a subsequent third or fourth check by a “master checker”?
The public, everyone except those who collected the signatures and those verifying them, has been kept from checking over the signatures on the petitions. As the process drags on anti-gay groups could be out registering people from the list, even those that support domestic partnerships but had inadvertently signed the petition. A subsequent check will show that the person is now registered. Politics at its dirtiest bolstered with an injunction by this federal judge.
It is neither unethical or dirty. Based on Ammons statement, it's completely acceptable. As long as the signer is registered by the time the signature is checked, that is a valid signature. A registered voter has every right to expect they're counted, regardless of politics.
Additionally, the whole process is better served when voter registration is encouraged and solicited. It shouldn't matter what side of an issue one is on, Democracy flourishes when citizens participate in the electoral process, eventhough we may be disappointed by the result.
Legally, maybe. But there needs to be a cut off. Let's just keep registering people until December and maybe there will be enough signatures by then. I am all for every registered voter's voice being counted but there needs to be deadlines or we will be having people voting in December after the election.