Count continues on Referendum 71 signatures

The state predicts it will finish verifying the signatures submitted by those who want to place a referendum overturning the state's domestic partnership law Sept. 1.
Protect Marriage Washington submitted 137,689 signatures. Of the 117,069 that have been reviewed, 103,198 have been accepted, and 13,871 have been rejected, according to the Secretary of State Web site.
For the referendum to make it onto the Nov. 3 ballot, 120,577 valid signatures are necessary. That means of the 20,620 signatures that remain to verify, 17,379 of them need to be determined valid for the referendum to have enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.
Protect Marriage Washington aims to overturn SB 5688, passed into law in the most recent legislative session.
The implementation of the law is on hold until Referendum 71 is settled. Some of the things the law does is give domestic partners the same right to visit their partner in the hospital as a spouse would and permits a partner to receive benefits similar as a spouse, according to RCW 26.60.