Minimum wage group turns in petition haul

Greg Hale leans on boxes of petitions signed by supporters of a state minimum wage increase at the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark., before submitting them to be counted Monday, Aug. 18, 2014. Monday was the deadline for supporters of raising the state minimum wage to submit additional petitions to try and get their proposal on the November ballot. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
Greg Hale leans on boxes of petitions signed by supporters of a state minimum wage increase at the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark., before submitting them to be counted Monday, Aug. 18, 2014. Monday was the deadline for supporters of raising the state minimum wage to submit additional petitions to try and get their proposal on the November ballot. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

A group hoping to raise Arkansas' minimum wage submitted close to 70,000 more petition signatures Monday to try to get the measure on the November ballot.

Give Arkansas a Raise Now arrived at the state Capitol about 10:30 a.m. with boxes of petitions. The group was the second ballot initiative committee to make the 5 p.m. Monday deadline to turn in additional signatures. A group trying to pass a constitutional amendment to allow the sale of alcohol statewide submitted signatures late Friday afternoon.

The minimum wage measure, an initiated act, would ask voters to approve a three-step increase in the state's minimum wage from the current $6.25 an hour to $8.50 an hour by 2017. Arkansas is one of a handful of states with a minimum wage lower than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

Matthew Hass, a volunteer with the group and the chief executive officer of the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association, signed the official paperwork reporting 12,124 petition pages with 69,070 additional signatures.

"I'm very confident. We're turning in more than 60,000 signatures in addition to what we've already turned in, so I'm pretty confident we'll make the cut," he said. "I think there is high demand that we give Arkansas a raise, period. I think everybody believes that if you work 40 hours a week, nobody should have to worry about where their food is coming from to feed their children at night."

Another member of the group joked that they had continued to collect signatures up until a few minutes before they were handed in. The group did collect signatures over the weekend, according to Steve Copley, chairman of Give Arkansas a Raise Now. Copley was not at the secretary of state's office Monday because of a funeral.

Last month, the group fell 15,107 signatures short of the number needed to get an initiated act on the ballot.

To qualify, it needs 62,507 valid signatures -- 8 percent of the ballots cast in the last governor's race.

Staff members at the secretary of state's office did an initial count of the petition pages as the boxes arrived: 11,972 pages of signatures including 3,381 pages from Pulaski County, 698 pages from Jefferson County and 694 pages from Washington County.

The office will have 30 days from Monday to certify the signatures.

The petition sheets are clearly legible this time, Copley said Friday. Printing problems caused almost 8,000 petitions to be disqualified during the first round of canvassing in July.

No groups had registered with the Arkansas Ethics Commission to oppose the measure as of Monday afternoon. Representatives from the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and the Arkansas Hospitality Association said they had not heard much opposition from their members, many of whom are required to pay the federal minimum wage.

Two people had requested time to inspect the petitions turned in during the initial round on July 7, but neither lodged any formal complaints as of 2 p.m. Monday.

If a challenge to the alcohol amendment moves forward in court, the minimum wage group would also be affected.

The challenge is based on Article 5, Section 1 of the state constitution that requires initial petitions to be turned in not less than four months before the election. That date for submitting signatures fell on a Friday, July 4. Because it was a holiday, the secretary of state's office moved the deadline to Monday, July 7. Both groups handed in their petitions on July 7.

Alcohol initiative opponents argue that because the July 4 deadline was missed, the measure is barred by the constitution from appearing on the Nov. 4 ballot. They have said they will file an action with the Supreme Court if the measure is certified by the secretary of state.

Metro on 08/19/2014

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