JEFFERSON CITY • Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander vowed Monday that so long as a proposed tobacco tax increase has the required verified signatures, his office will certify it for the ballot in November, despite a court ruling opponents say should disqualify the initiative.
The nonprofit organization Raise Your Hand for Kids proposed a 60-cent tobacco tax hike to generate more money for early childhood education programs. Springfield businessman Jim Boeving sued, alleging that the ballot summary on the petitions didn’t explain how the fees could rise each year because of inflation.
An appeals court later ruled that the organization's summary was insufficient and changing the wording. Opponents point to a state law that requires petitioners to attach ballot summary language to their signature pages, arguing that since the court's rewrite doesn't match up with what was presented to those who signed the petition, the 300,000 signatures gathered should be voided.
When both Kander’s and Raise Your Hand for Kids attorneys' motions to reconsider the ruling were denied by the Missouri Supreme Court last week, Boeving’s attorneys said Kander had no choice but to discount the petitions, a claim Kander dismissed in a statement Monday.
“In the Secretary of State’s office’s view, the intent of the law was not to disenfranchise Missourians after they have legally signed a petition,” the statement read. “If this petition has enough valid signatures and meets the requirements for certification, the Secretary of State’s office will certify it for the ballot, just like every other petition.”
Still, the fight likely isn’t over yet. Kander said the effort will likely continue to be debated in court in the coming weeks and months, instructing local election authorities to continue verifying the petition signatures in the meantime.
He also acknowledged that even with the required signatures, a court could later remove it from the ballot.
Chuck Hatfield, attorney for Boeving, said he disagrees with Kander's decision.
“Missouri law declares in plain language that ‘signatures shall not be counted if the official ballot title is not affixed to the page containing such signatures.’" Hatfield said. "The petitions no longer have an official ballot title and the law is crystal clear that they shall not be counted.”
Celeste Bott • 573-556-6186
@celestebott on Twitter
?cbott@post-dispatch.com
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