POCAHONTAS -- A group wanting to place an alcohol-sales issue on Randolph County's November ballot failed to provide enough signatures to call for its vote, county clerk Rhonda Blevins said Friday.
The group, Keep Revenue in Randolph County, fell short by 361 signatures, Blevins said in a news release.
Blevins said the group needed the names of 4,000 registered voters on petitions to get the measure on the ballot.
"The Randolph County Clerk's office has worked tirelessly to provide every voter with his or her rights while adhering to the law," Blevins said in the statement. "Our goal was to attempt to verify every name on the petition we had on file. Any voter not counted was due to a statutory qualification."
Linda Bowlin, head of Keep Revenue in Randolph County, said she is considering appealing Blevins' decision.
The group presented petitions earlier this month, but Blevins discarded hundreds of signatures because they were duplicates, were not from registered voters or did not match handwriting on voter registration cards.
Bowlin said she wanted to let voters decide if they want to allow alcohol sales in the county.
State Desk on 08/13/2016