Minimum wage vote measure faces suit

Jackson Thomas Stephens Jr. of Little Rock filed a motion with the Supreme Court of Arkansas late Monday asking the court to remove the minimum wage ballot initiative from the Nov. 4 ballot.

The lawsuit alleges that the ballot committee Give Arkansas a Raise Now did not submit the petition signatures in a timely manner and that almost 8,000 signatures were validated incorrectly by the secretary of state's office. Without those 8,000 signatures, the lawsuit argues that the group would not have cleared the hurdle to be given an additional 30-day cure period to gather the additional valid signatures to certify the measure for the ballot.

"There are some incongruencies and some inconsistencies," Stephens said when reached by phone late Monday. "I just want to make sure everybody plays by the rules."

Stephens is the son of Jack Stephens Sr., founder of the Little Rock-based multimillion-dollar investment and development group Stephens Inc. David Sterling, the plaintiff's attorney, did not return phone calls for comment late Monday. Sterling ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Republican nomination for Arkansas attorney general, losing to Leslie Rutledge in the June runoff.

If approved, the initiated act would increase the state's minimum wage in stages from $6.25 an hour to $8.50 an hour by January 2017. Supporters of the measure say it would mean a $4,600 increase in annual salary for workers who are paid the state minimum wage.

Arkansas is one of four states that have a minimum wage lower than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Representatives of economic groups and trade associations have said the measure would affect very few businesses because companies that make more than $500,000 a year are required to pay the federal minimum wage rate. There had not been an organized effort to oppose the ballot measure before Monday's lawsuit.

Laura Labay, a spokesman for Secretary of State Mark Martin, said Martin plans to defend the ballot-initiative process.

"The minimum wage measure was placed on the ballot by the people of Arkansas," Labay said. "They went through the proper procedures to get it on the ballot. That is to be respected and defended and that is what we plan to do."

Stephens argues in the lawsuit that the secretary of state's office erred when it made its initial ballot signature count. Amendment 7 of the Arkansas Constitution lays out the process for ballot initiatives, referendums and constitutional amendments to be placed on the ballot.

According to the amendment, once petitions are submitted to the secretary of state, the office does an initial signature count. For 2014, initiated act petitions had to contain 62,507 total signatures as well as signatures from a certain percentage of voters in at least 15 counties to start the validation process.

But, if a petition with signatures is photocopied or if a legible copy of the entire text of the measure, the popular name and ballot title is not attached to every petition page containing signatures, the signatures on those specific petition pages are disqualified before the initial signature count.

During the initial count, the secretary of state's office threw out almost 8,000 petitions because some of the required language was illegible, before certifying an initial count of 64,000 signatures. After further review, the measure was found to be more than 15,000 valid signatures short of certification for the ballot, but the initial count entitled the group to 30 days of additional time to gather more signatures, after which the measure was certified for the ballot.

The lawsuit alleges that almost 8,000 signatures should not have been counted in that 64,000 initial count because the petitions were illegible. It also challenges dozens of other signatures, alleging possible issues of fraud with notary signatures.

Steve Copley, chairman of Give Arkansas a Raise Now, said he's still reviewing the lawsuit and couldn't comment on the new claims.

The allegation that the petitions were not filed on time was raised in a previously filed lawsuit that seeks to invalidate a proposed constitutional amendment to allow statewide alcohol sales. Copley said Monday that he has faith both ballot initiatives were filed on time and that those challenges will fail.

Amendment 7 of the Arkansas Constitution requires petitions for constitutional amendments and other ballot initiatives to be submitted no later than four months before the general election, which falls on Nov. 4 this year. Under that requirement, signatures would have had to been filed by Friday, July 4.

Because government offices were closed for the holiday, the secretary of state's office moved the filing deadline to the next business day, Monday, July 7.

On Sept. 3, Citizens for Local Rights, a group opposed to the alcohol amendment, filed an action with the Supreme Court asking it to overturn the secretary of state's certification of the ballot measure, partly because of the issue of timeliness.

In subsequent responses, Martin's office, as well as advocates for the measure, argued that the four-month cutoff for signatures often has been extended if the deadline falls on a holiday as it did this year.

Martin's response to the timing of the objections also argued that it was "impossible" and potentially illegal to strike the ballot so close to the Nov. 4 election. Martin's office had not filed an answer to the lawsuit Monday.

Final briefs in the alcohol amendment lawsuit are due by Thursday. Attorneys on both sides are scheduled to make oral arguments before the court on Oct. 9. Stephens asked the court to consider his request on the same day.

Information for this article was contributed by Spencer Willems of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Metro on 09/23/2014

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