The Referendum (‘citizens veto’) of the Voter Suppression Act – HB 2305 – headed to the ballot

Posted  by AzBlueMeanie:

Good job people! Petition signature verification typically has a "bad signature" failure rate in excess of 40 percent. But even with the "strict compliance" standard in effect for a referendum of a legislative act, you managed a signature verification rate in excess of 80 percent! This is unheard of. Give yourself a pat on the back and an "attaboy!"

The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Referendum
effort against HB2305 has enough signatures to make the 2014 ballot:

The referendum effort against HB 2305, the
law making sweeping changes to Arizona’s elections, has the necessary
valid signatures to force a referendum election on the law during the
2014 election.

Though three counties are still validating signatures, the effort
already has more than 100,000 signatures validated – well over the
86,405 necessary to force a referendum election.

According to figures provided to by the secretary of state’s office,
5,242 signatures have been deemed valid by county recorders’ offices
across the state. By law, that figure is multiplied by 20 – the
signatures sent to county recorders were a random sample totaling 5
percent of the total – giving the referendum effort 104,840 valid
signatures, far more than the 86,405 needed to put the law on hold until
voters weigh in on the 2014 ballot.

In the three counties that have not
finished their validation so far, Santa Cruz, Yavapai, and Yuma, another
438 signatures await validation. Even if all those signatures were
invalid, the effort would only have 34,340 signatures invalidated, using
the 5 percent sample.

So far, not including the three remaining counties, the signatures
had an 81.6 percent validity rate overall. That is well above the
average for Arizona citizen initiatives, according to Sherwood.

And now let's hear from the dark side in favor of voter suppression:

Barrett Marson, spokesman for the anti-referendum effort, said they still may bring a legal challenge against the referendum.

“There are still a lot of issues to be resolved. Obviously some of their signature gatherers have significant issues with residency and felonious conduct. So this is far from over,” he said.

The cushion of valid signatures would appear insurmountable to any legal challenge based upon signature gatherers. As I recall, the Protect Your Right To Vote Committee culled through the petitions and did not submit any petitions they believed would be subject to such a challenge. They were meticulous in their submission of signatures, hence the extraordinary valid signature rate over 80 percent.

This does not mean that supporters of GOP voter suppression will not go to court, however.