Petition Signers Request Their Names Be Removed Some Uneasy With Language In Term-Limits Initiative

Of the almost 240,000 people who signed petitions to place a term-limits initiative on the ballot, 281 have asked to have their names removed.

Secretary of State Ralph Munro says this is the first time he can recall receiving letters making such requests.

The primary reason for the turnaround seems to be a section of the initiative that calls for a national constitutional convention on term limits if members of Congress do not impose limits on themselves.

The initiative declares support for a federal constitutional amendment limiting U.S. representatives to three terms (six years) and U.S. senators to two terms (12 years).

Several people who wrote in to the state requesting that their names not be counted on the petitions said they were motivated by Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum or by the John Birch Society.

“There is no reason for us to play Russian roulette with our wonderful Constitution,” said Cathy Mickels, Washington state president of Eagle Forum.

Organizers contend the measure, sponsored by the Washington, D.C.-based group U.S. Term Limits, could make it on the ballot in as many as 16 states.

If Congress failed to approve a term-limits amendment, the initiative instructs state legislators to adopt resolutions calling for a constitutional convention. The last one was in 1787.

John Sonneland, the Washington state sponsor of the initiative, said he isn’t worried about a few people’s changes of heart.

He said paid workers gathered nearly 240,000 signatures on the petition, far exceeding the 181,667 necessary to get the measure on the ballot.