Arkansas: Judge strikes down 2013 law aimed at hindering ballot petitions
Circuit Judge Mary McGowan ruled today that the 2013 law aimed at making it harder to petition for ballot initiatives was unconstitutional and enjoined its enforcement. The state will likely appeal.
The Arkansas Public Law Center, of which I’m a board member, and the Arkansas chapter of the american Civil Liberties Union supported the lawsuit, with plaintiffs Paul Spencer of the Regnat Populus ethics reform group, and Nealy Sealy of Arkansas Community Organizations.
The lawsuit challenged Act 1413, passed with business lobby support, including the duopoloy casinos at West Memphis and Hot Springs, frequent targets of petition campaigns to allow more casino gambling in Arkansas. Targeted were legal requirements for personal details about paid canvassers, including a prohibition of use of canvassers with certain criminal records; stricter rules on throwing out batches of signatures; new requirements that canvassers attest to their addresses and increasing penalties for canvassers who prints a name, address or birth date for a signer, something the law only allows signers to do. Attorneys argued that the law created different requirements for paid and unpaid canvassers. Sponsors knew that paid canvassing is, most often, the only sure way to meet petition requirements.
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