By Andrew Oxford | Arizona Republic
The education group Save Our Schools, pictured during a 2018 March to the state Capitol, was among groups that sought to gather initiative petitions online as an alternative to in-person gathering because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Arizona Supreme Court rejected the idea.
The Arizona Supreme Court will not let initiative campaigns collect signatures online to qualify for the ballot in November, a move several campaigns had urged as a public health precaution as the coronavirus pandemic upended the usual practices of circulating petitions in public places or door-to-door.
In a 6-1 decision, the court rejected a request by four ballot measure campaigns to use the same website, known as E-Qual, that candidates for state offices use to get signatures for their nominating petitions.
