Citizen initiatives file petitions with signatures to spare

The campaign for the Invest in Education Act prepares to submit its petitions on July 2, 2020. /Photo courtesy Stand for Children Arizona/Twitter.

By Jeremy Duda | Arizona Mirror

Four ballot measures submitted their petitions by the deadline Thursday, and the campaigns say they are confident they have enough signatures to fend off any potential legal challenges aimed at keeping them off the ballot.

The campaign to legalize recreational marijuana submitted about 420,000 signatures on Wednesday. On Thursday, a measure that would make a host of changes to hospitals and health care in Arizona filed about 425,000 signatures; a proposal to scale back the state’s strict criminal sentencing standards submitted nearly 400,000; and an initiative that impose an income tax surcharge on higher-earning Arizonans to increase K-12 education funding filed more than 435,000 with the Secretary of State’s Office.

Citizen initiatives that make changes to state statute need 237,645 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot this year. The higher an initiative’s “cushion” — the number of signatures collected above the minimum needed — the lower its chances of being knocked off the ballot through a court challenge.

“I’m confident that all the measures that we’re working on have a margin that will withstand challenge,” said Stacy Pearson of the consulting firm Strategies 360, which is running the campaigns for the marijuana, education and sentencing reform initiatives.

READ ON:

Share this!

Additional Articles

Top master-planned communities for 2024

By AZ Big Media Here are the Top 10 master-planned communities in Arizona, based on public voting for the 2024 edition of Ranking Arizona, the state’s biggest and most comprehensive business opinion poll. Ranking Arizona

Read More »
News Categories

Get Our Twice Weekly Newsletter!

* indicates required

Rose Law Group pc values “outrageous client service.” We pride ourselves on hyper-responsiveness to our clients’ needs and an extraordinary record of success in achieving our clients’ goals. We know we get results and our list of outstanding clients speaks to the quality of our work.

July 2020
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031