Harger: From Federal Way to Spokane, attacks on signature gatherers undermine democracy

Violence has no place in our politics.

Look, we can argue. We can organize. We can vote. But hitting people with cars? Ripping up petitions? Defacing signatures? That’s not democracy. That’s vandalism dressed up as virtue.

Let’s Go Washington is operating within the legal framework of our politics. You might love their initiatives. You might hate them. Either way, the campaign and the ballot box are how you defeat them, not this.

We’re still waiting on details, but here’s what the initiative sponsor said is happening.

Federal Way

A car pulls up, someone throws red liquid all over the signature pages, a guy gets out and starts a physical altercation with the gatherer, then flees. Police have surveillance footage.

Yakima

A man threatens to go home and get a gun, repeating it again inside the store.

Spokane

A guy pretends he’s going to sign, then scribbles a big X across the whole petition page and walks off proud of himself. Tacoma: There’s video of a woman sobbing, begging an officer not to arrest her after she threw petitions in the trash. And get this: that officer was already there taking a report about somebody else stealing petitions. Another one in Tacoma: they say a woman ripped signature sheets from a gatherer’s hands, stole petitions, and hit an innocent bystander with her car as she fled the scene.

Bonney Lake earlier this month

A woman claiming to be a priest harasses a signature gatherer for minutes. Another day, the same gatherer has petitions stolen.

This isn’t spirited debate. It’s intimidation.

Here’s the thing. Under Washington law, signature gathering is protected speech. You interfere with it? That’s theft, malicious mischief, assault, maybe even hit and run. You disagree with what they’re doing? Fine. Refuse to sign. Say no, I think what you’re doing is wrong, and move along. But you don’t attack signature gatherers. You don’t steal their petitions.

Now imagine this scenario. Someone’s gathering signatures to support trans rights, and a conservative group attacks them or steals their signatures. We’d all be outraged, right? And we should be. It would be the top story on every news site in the state. The rule doesn’t change depending on whose team you’re on. Free speech means you’re going to hear things you don’t like in places you consider your community’s backyard.

These initiatives? You can argue whether they’re good or bad. You should argue. But argue. Don’t suppress. Don’t destroy.

You think these ideas are wrong for Washington? Then work your behind off to campaign against them. Talk to your neighbors. Donate. Volunteer. Beat them at the ballot box. That’s how you win and still keep faith with the system that lets all of us be heard.

I’m worried about where discourse is headed in this country. When every disagreement becomes some existential battle where winning is everything, that’s when norms collapse. That’s when people get hurt.

This ain’t the way to do it.

We can say no without turning it into a fight. And if we can’t? I dread to think where this goes next. So let’s protect the process. And let the voters decide.

Charlie Harger is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries here. Follow Charlie on X and email him here. 

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