Petitions to overturn Lynnwood’s fireworks ban failed because too many signatures were from voters who live outside that city.
The petitions, which fell 513 signatures short of the 2,708 signatures required to force city officials to either overturn the ban or refer the issue to a citywide vote, had 1,287 signatures from voters who live outside the city, according to a compilation of signatures released Thursday. Many of these signatures were from voters who live in unincorporated areas near the city that have Lynnwood addresses.
Officials in the Snohomish County auditor’s office completed the count of 336 pages of signatures Wednesday afternoon and double-checked them Thursday morning.
Sponsors had turned in 4,740 signatures — 43 percent more than the required number — but elections officials reported that more than half of those signatures were not from registered Lynnwood voters.
In addition to the signatures from outside the city, the 2,556 invalid signatures included 172 duplicates, 1042 from people who are not registered to vote, 33 whose signatures did not match those on file, 20 whose surnames didn’t match those on file and two signatures from before the six-month signing window.
That left 2,195 valid signatures — 513 short of the required number.
State and local laws require sponsors of city initiatives to gather signatures from at least 15 percent of the registered voters in the city as of last year. That’s a higher threshold than requirements for state ballot measures — for initiatives, 8 percent of the number of people who voted in the last election for governor, and for referenda, 4 percent of the number who voted in the last election for governor.
There is no provision for a recount of the Lynnwood signatures. The only possible further review is through appeal to the Snohomish County Superior Court, if petition sponsors believe that the county auditor’s determination was not accurate.
If the Lynnwood fireworks proposal had enough signatures, it would have gone to the Lynnwood City Council, which could have either passed it or put it on an upcoming ballot.
The proposal would have overturned a ban on all fireworks that the Council passed early this year.
Former Councilman Ted Hikel leads the sponsoring Lynnwood Citizens for Fireworks and Freedom.
The petition signature campaign began shortly after the City Council voted to begin banning fireworks as of next year.
Before the ban, fireworks were allowed in Lynnwood during certain hours on July 4.
Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@frontier.com.
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