The premier news source for Snohomish County

Signature collection efforts by Let’s Go Washington (LGW) are being met by reports of resistance in the forms of alleged verbal harassment, physical violence, and tampering—and they are only into their first week!

LGW is collecting signatures for two initiatives: IL26-001 – Strengthening communication between parents and schools; and IL26-638 – Protecting fairness in girls’ sports. The first aims to restore a parent’s bill of rights and the other barring biological boys from competing in sports competitions against biological girls.

IL26-001 would re-enact RCW 28A.605.005 as it was originally enacted in Initiative to the Legislature 2081. The re-enacted law would list certain rights of parents and guardians of public-school children, including rights to review materials and student records, receive certain notifications and opt students out of certain activities. It would repeal amendments to the statute, which modified school obligations and access to certain student records and added certain parental rights.

IL26-638 would require policies prohibiting students it defines as “biologically male” from competing with or against female students in certain interschool athletic activities that are intended for female students only. Students who choose to participate in such activities must provide a statement from the student’s healthcare provider verifying the student’s biological sex, based on reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or normal endogenously produced testosterone levels. These requirements would apply to individual or team athletic competitions.

LGW, in a statement to SeattleRED argues that the harassment and violence against their signature gathering efforts are forms of voter intimidation and voter suppression.

“Governor Bob Ferguson, Attorney General Nick Brown, and Secretary of State Steve Hobbs have done nothing to quell the rising tide of violence,” LGW released in a statement to SeattleRED last week. “Not a single Democrat lawmaker has called for the intimidation, threats, harassment, or attacks to stop.”

Attorney General Nick Brown, on Monday, September 29, announced that his office is looking into the matter.

“People have the right to advocate for their beliefs without fear of violence,” AG Brown posted to X on Monday. “What happened in Tacoma is unacceptable, and we will do everything we can to assist local authorities in enforcing any violations of the law. We must do everything we can to protect the democratic process.”

The Washington Secretary of State posted to its Facebook page on Friday, September 26, that signature gathering is a protected right under the state constitution (Article II, Section 1 and encourages victims of intimidation to report the incident immediately to local law enforcement, as it undermines democratic participation.

Also, Washington state law protects the rights of signature gatherers and voters to participate without interference in the initiative and referendum process.

RCW 29A.84.250 – Corrupt Practices for Initiative and Referendum Petitions: This section specifically prohibits actions that disrupt the signature-gathering process through threats or intimidation. It states that every person who: Interferes with or attempts to interfere with the right of any voter to sign or not to sign an initiative or referendum petition (or to vote for or against such a measure) by threats, intimidation, or any other corrupt means or practice is guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

Below are the known instances so far of signature collection intimidation against LGW’s latest drive starting September 2025:

1. Federal Way: Car drove up and threw red liquid on all of the signature pages. Male from the car proceeded to harass and initiate a physical altercation with the signature gatherer. Signature gatherer fought back. The guy got back in the car and fled with his accomplice, police called. Their is surveillance footage of the getaway car.
2. Yakima: A man threatened a signature gatherer saying they were going home to grab a gun. The same threat was apparently repeated inside the store. Man left the store but signature gatherer justifiably unnerved. Police were called.
3. Spokane: A guy walked up to a signature gatherer at Trader Joe’s in Spokane on Friday, Sept 26. He pretended like was going sign and then scribbled a big X through the whole page and walked off very proud of conduct defacing signatures.
4. Tacoma: Woman sobs with Tacoma PD officer not to arrest her after she threw Let’s Go Washington initiatives to protect girls’ sports in the trash.
5. Tacoma: A Signature Thief – Hit and Run by a college age young woman at the Tacoma Fred Meyer who ran up to the signature gatherer, ripped the signature sheets/boards out of her hands, took off, got in a car and then in her haste to get away hit a shopper.
6. Covington: Man arrested for stealing Lets Go Washington initiatives. The signature gatherer was able to recover some but not all of the sheets. The police came and arrested the thief.
7. Vancouver: A Vancouver Fred Meyer store manager shoved shopping carts into/around signature gathering table legally placed outside of the store in order to keep people from being able to access petitions. Manager proceeded to tell shoppers and employees not to sign the petitions.
8. Bonney Lake: A thief in Bonney Lake stole a stack of signed petitions containing the personal information of voters in the area. hief in Bonney Lake returned to the scene of the crime the next day to harass the same signature gatherer.
9. Spanaway: Someone at a Walmart in Spanaway stole petition sheets and ripped up others in order to keep them from being submitted.

Let’s Go Washington is a conservative political action committee (PAC) founded by tech entrepreneur Brian Heywood, aimed at challenging what it describes as overreaching Democratic policies in Washington state through ballot initiatives.

Author: Mario Lotmore