Signature questions surround Seattle background check law

  The Seattle Elections Division recently requested a criminal probe into bogus petition signatures for Initiative 1163, the Seattle Post Intelligencer reports. The law would require background checks and training for long-term-care workers and providers. Dave Ammons of the secretary of state's office, said in a release that there could be "hundreds" of fraudulent signatures. PCI Consultants - the signature-gathering firm hired for the campaign - sent the questionable signatures to the state's ED, after a review found that many of the signed names either didn't match the ones they had on file or turned out not to be included on voter rolls. The Washington State Patrol has agreed to investigate the incident. Sandeep Kaushik, I-1163 spokesperson, explained to the Seattle Times that "An independent contractor hired by PCI to collect signatures for multiple initiatives, including I-1163, appears to have tried to submit fraudulent signatures on several I-1163 petitions." Kaushik added that at no point during the campaign did I-1163 receive or pay for petition signatures, and that the person suspected of committing the act has no affiliation with the campaign.