With spring comes ballot measure season

Checking in on the initiative campaigns, including a big mystery project

The arrival of spring and the departure of the Legislature means ballot measure season is in full swing. After a couple of years without direct democracy, expect to be asked to sign something in the coming weeks.

Welcome to a special subscribers-only Monday¹ edition of the Observer on initiative campaigns, ranging from things almost certain to make the ballot to a mystery project from two of the biggest players on the left that may or may not turn out to be a ballot measure.

Dozens of initiatives have been filed, but only a few have the money and muscle behind them to make it to the ballot. Getting on this November’s ballot will require 324,516 signatures from registered voters by July 8.

In general, if you’re even fixing to think about maybe doing something political in Washington, you owe the Public Disclosure Commission some information about where your money comes from and how you’re spending it. Here’s what we found while catching up on our obsessive perusal of that data.