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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Spin Control

And then there were 3…initiatives for sure on the ballot.

OLYMPIA -- Initiative 1098, which would place an income tax on individuals who make more than $200,000 a year, and couples who make more than $400,000, has enough valid signatures to make the ballot.

This despite having about 350 signatures pulled out because the person who gathered them is suspected of fraud.

The state Elections Office said it checked 11,876 signatures and 10,090 were good. The rest were people who weren't registered, or the signature on the sheet didn't match the one on file, or they were duplicates. That's a validation rate that's fairly normal for petition drives.

The campaign turned in about 385,000 signatures, and needed less than 242,000 good ones.

So I-1098 becomes the third of six initiatives that to go from  almost certain to for sure. I-1100, the first of two proposals to get the state out of the liquor business, qualified first. I-1082, which would add private insurance to the mix for workers compensation coverage in Washington, qualified on Tuesday.



The Spokesman-Review's political team keeps a critical eye on local, state and national politics.