Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick was one of two justices who wanted the court to consider an appeal concerning citizens initiatives. /Photo by Gage Skidmore | Flickr
By Jeremy Duda | Arizona Mirror
The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear a challenge to a 2017 law requiring citizen initiative campaigns to strictly comply with statutory requirements. Previously, the courts had imposed a lesser standard of substantial compliance, meaning initiatives wouldn’t be barred from the ballot over minor defects on issues such as the format of petitions or the information that voters must provide when they sign them.
Several people and organizations that have used the initiative process in the past, including the Animal Defense League of Arizona, Arizona Advocacy Network, and Planned Parenthood, argued that the law violates the Arizona Constitution by infringing on the judiciary’s authority. The courts had long established that initiatives should be subject to substantial compliance while citizen referenda, which refer laws passed by the Legislature to the ballot, are subject to strict compliance.
