JEFFERSON CITY • A lengthy battle to get a controversial tobacco tax hike off the ballot this November continued in the Missouri Supreme Court Thursday, as opponents scramble to make their case before the issue goes to voters in the fall.

The ballot initiative from the nonprofit Raise Your Hand for Kids seeks to increase the tobacco tax by 60 cents a pack, with new revenue going toward early childhood education programs.

At 17 cents a pack, Missouri’s tobacco tax is the lowest in the nation.

The proposal has been met with widespread opposition and legal challenges, due largely in part to a prior appeals court ruling that determined the summary presented to those who signed the petition was unfair and misleading.

Chuck Hatfield, who represents the opponents — two of whom are tobacco vendors — has argued summaries are too important and that voters who are asked to sign petitions can’t be expected to read the fine print of a constitutional amendment.

Raise Your Hand for Kids attorney Jane Dueker contends that to toss the petition would violate the rights of nearly 300,000 people who signed it and want to weigh in on the hike on Nov. 8.

The court is expected to rule within days.

There is a tight time frame to settle the case, because military absentee ballots must be available by Sept. 23.

Election 2016 from St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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Celeste Bott • 573-556-6186

@celestebott on Twitter

?cbott@post-dispatch.com

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