The Seattle Times story about the organizers of R-71 turning in their petitions today ("Will Foes Hold Up Gay Benefits?") ends on an ominous note: the peace of mind of thousands of residents of Washington state is under threat. Oh, not the peace of mind of gay and lesbian residents of Washington state, the people whose civil rights are under assault—please—but the peace of mind of the assholes who signed the petitions to strip their fellow citizens of their civil rights.

A political group called WhoSigned.Org has already said it will publish online the names of people who signed petitions for the referendum. It is patterned after campaigns in other states where gay-rights ballot measures have been proposed.

Domestic-partnership opponents could have their names and other information published by the Web site only after R-71 petitions are verified by the secretary of state's office. At that point, the signed petitions are public records.

Plans to make the information on these public records available to the public have been described as an effort to intimidate people into thinking twice about signing R-71. But it seems to me that there's a perfectly legitimate reason—even goo-goo—for publicize the names of folks who signed R-71: as Dom and others have documented, R-71 signature gatherers have been actively misleading people, a.k.a. as "lying" or "bearing false witness." Signature gatherers have gone so far as to tell people that R-71 was a pro-gay initiative and that by signing they were actually showing their support for gay rights.

Of course it's perfectly legal for R-71 signature gatherers to lie and mislead voters and bear false witness—just like it's perfectly legal for WhoSigned.Org to post the names of those who signed to a website.

How many registered voters were duped into signing R-71 by lying signature gatherers? How many were fooled by R-71's misleading ballot title? How many were swayed by false claims that the domestic partnership law required the state to teach gay sex to school children? There's only one way to find out: contact the folks who signed R-71 and ask them. I, for one, am curious to know roughly how many signatures were obtained fraudulently. It's too big a job for any one reporter, though, or even one news operation. So put the names out there and let the mob sourcing begin.