Washington’s fall voters’ guide may be 20 pages longer and cost nearly a quarter-million dollars more to publish.
That’s because of a voter-approved requirement that all tax hikes appear on the ballot for an advisory vote. This year there will be five of these non-binding ballot measures.
Katie Blinn with Washington’s secretary of state’s office says each advisory vote requires four pages in the voters’ pamphlet.
“Certainly while providing more information to the public is good and a benefit to the public. There is a cost to that because additional pages have additional printing costs,” she said.
The bulk of the printing cost will cover listing each lawmaker, their contact information and how they voted on each tax measure.
The secretary of state’s office is looking for ways to reduce the number of pages required.
Anti-tax activist Tim Eyman sponsored the ballot measures that require the advisory votes. He says the printing costs are a small price to pay compared to the cost of the tax increases over 10 years.
