“At this point in the count, there is a clear gap between yes and no voters. There are about a half million votes left to count, and half of those are in King County, where voters are rejecting I-976. However, we do not believe that advantage will be enough to close the gap. The indication right now is that I-976 will pass.

“I-976 made a simplistic and deceptive claim: that somehow, car tabs could be cut without consequences. At the end of the day, people did not understand the connection between their car tabs and the transportation projects they support, including improved freeways, transit improvements and city-level street maintenance projects. It’s extremely disappointing.

“Our coalition of business, labor and environmental leaders worked extremely hard to tell voters the consequences of 976. Republicans and Democrats; urban, suburban and rural leaders; tribes, public safety, civic and disability advocacy groups all stepped up. We are extremely grateful for their advocacy for Washington state.

“Passage of 976 means very difficult decisions for cities across the state and for our State Legislature. Literally dozens of cities and agencies are going to have to cut and delay projects, or find other ways to raise revenue to take care of critical safety needs. Questions are already being raised about lawsuits and King County has announced their intention to challenge the constitutionality of the initiative.

“Even without the uncertainty and delay that is caused by litigation, I-976 undercuts our ability to expand light rail, repair at risk bridges and overpasses, pave and improve our local roads and state highways, and to provide critical bus and other transit services to hundreds of thousands of Washington residents.”

We won’t know if I-976 has sufficient signatures to qualify until next January, but we expect it will, because Tim Eyman is hiring signature gatherers to collect signatures for I-976.

This destructive measure would eliminate billions in bipartisan, voter-approved transportation investments, devastating efforts to improve critical infrastructure in every part of the state.

Join our coalition and help us safeguard these vital investments from elimination!