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Privacy and Petitions
16 Jan 2010 12:59 pmWhile this is being brought up to the Supreme Court by the Washington marriage folks, to me it's pretty cut and dried. "Protect Marriage Washington, a group that supports traditional marriage, sued to block release of the names [more than 130,000 signatures calling for a referendum on Washington State's domestic partnership law] ..."
Do you sign a petition for something, and it's presented to city, county, state or federal government for action? Absolutely, you are publicly professing your support of the petition that you signed. For issues such as referendum that require a certain number of valid signatures, it is absolutely vital that those signatures be both a matter of public record and accessible to all -- otherwise fraud becomes far too easy. The main point is still that you are *publicly affirming* your support by signing that petition.
That you now have cold feet about publicly supporting that petition doesn't matter -- it's too late, you've already done so *in writing*. If you've changed your mind then say so, if not then stand behind what you've said. Doesn't matter what the petition was for.
If you not want to associate yourself with a petition, then you should wait to do so when (and if) it is actually put on a ballot, when you can vote for or against it in total privacy.
Discussion is obviously US-centric.
Do you sign a petition for something, and it's presented to city, county, state or federal government for action? Absolutely, you are publicly professing your support of the petition that you signed. For issues such as referendum that require a certain number of valid signatures, it is absolutely vital that those signatures be both a matter of public record and accessible to all -- otherwise fraud becomes far too easy. The main point is still that you are *publicly affirming* your support by signing that petition.
That you now have cold feet about publicly supporting that petition doesn't matter -- it's too late, you've already done so *in writing*. If you've changed your mind then say so, if not then stand behind what you've said. Doesn't matter what the petition was for.
If you not want to associate yourself with a petition, then you should wait to do so when (and if) it is actually put on a ballot, when you can vote for or against it in total privacy.
Discussion is obviously US-centric.
