Poll: Approve R-71 Winning 51-44, Voter Turnout Will Be Crucial

A just-released poll shows that support for maintaining Washington state's domestic partners law is ahead by 51-44. But gay organizers are concerned.

When voters are read the exact ballot language, 51 percent approve referendum 71 and 44 percent reject referendum 71. The discrepancy may because this new poll looks only at voters likely to cast ballots in the 2009 off year election. As many as half of all voters don't vote in off year elections, and those who do tend to be more conservative. Considering the importance of these rights and obligations to so many Washington families it is troubling the race is going to be so close. If referendum 71 is rejected families will lose vital rights that protect families in times of crisis. You need to vote to approve referendum 71 to keep the domestic partnership law. Clearly the winner of this election will be determined by voter turn out. We need to turn out the vote and encourage our friends, family and neighbors to vote. If would be a tragedy if families in Washington lost protections because people didn't mail in their ballots.

RELATED: Yesterday a federal court agreed to hear the appeal brought by the state Attorney General's office demanding that the names of R-71's petition signers be made public. Via Slog's Dominic Holden:

A three-judge panel will hear oral arguments on October 14 in Pasadena, California. Each side will have 15 minutes to present their case. By signing R-71 petitions, voters indicated that a law to extend the state-granted rights of marriage to same-sex partners should be put on the ballot, ultimately in an attempt to repeal them. But in a bizarre twist of hypocrisy, anti-gay Protect Marriage Washington now claims that the signers are a minority—because they were trying to limit rights of a minority, you see—at risk of harm if their identities are released. Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna doesn't buy the claim—arguing the state's open-government laws trump fears of people who put their name on a public document—and attorneys from his office will argue before the federal court. The Washington Coalition for Open Government, a nonprofit run by former state representative Toby Nixon, is also arguing to release the names of R-71 signers.