By Bunthay Cheam

In November, voters will get to decide the fate of affirmative action, which has been at issue in Washington State since the late 1990s.

This past April, the Washington State legislature approved Initiative 1000. Its implementation would repeal Initiative 200, which has banned affirmative action in the state since its passage in 1998. Anti-tax activist Tim Eyman helped bring I-200 to the ballot and more than half of Washington State voters approved it, adding language that prohibited government hiring, contracting, and admissions to universities to use race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in its process.

Two groups have emerged with different interpretations of how I-1000 would be implemented, if passed: Let People Vote, which opposes I-1000, and the Washington Fairness Campaign, which supports it.

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