"I couldn't possibly fail to disagree with you less."
26 July 2006Is TABOR tabled?Do you think somebody lost count? Proponents of the so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights collected 299,029 signatures; Oklahoma Supreme Court referee Greg Albert says the verified count is 218,223, just slightly shy of the constitutional specification (219,564) for going onto the ballot as a State Question. It is, of course, standard practice to get as many signatures as possible, with the expectation that some of them will be invalidated, but having more than twenty percent of them scratched indicates, at the very least, sloppy work. Of the 80,806 signatures invalidated, 56,940 were collected by persons legally unqualified to accept them. Pertinent constitutional language:
It shall be unlawful for any person other than a qualified elector of the State of Oklahoma to circulate any initiative or referendum petition to amend, add to, delete, strike or otherwise change in any way the Constitution or laws of the State of Oklahoma, or of any subdivision of the State of Oklahoma. Every person convicted of a violation of this section shall be punished by a fine of not to exceed One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or by imprisonment in the county jail for not to exceed one (1) year, or by both said fine and imprisonment.
Albert's report notes that the state's definition of "qualified elector" requires "bona fide" residency, which a number of circulators were not able to establish: an address at the EconoLodge on I-40 West, for instance, does not make you a resident. The Court may overrule Albert, and indeed has done so in the past on other matters, but this is not a good sign for TABOR fans. Posted at 9:02 AM to Soonerland |