Judge rules alcohol petition 'sufficient'
Holly McCauley
Issue date: 10/20/08 Section: News
Judge John Thomas issued a ruling just after 9:30 Friday morning stating that the petition in favor of a more widespread sale of alcohol in Clark County was "sufficient," approving the issue to run on the ballot during the November election.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit opposing the petition were William "Coke" Viser and Rick Mays, both Arkadelphia citizens.
Viser is an OBU professor and Mays is a local minister.
The men had filed a complaint against County Clerk Rhonda Cole alleging that some signatures on the petition had been postdated and should not be counted.
Andi Davis, attorney to the plaintiffs, raised multiple arguments for the complaint.
One was that the signatures were invalid because a person is not considered a registered voter in Clark County until his or her registration has been processed by the county clerk.
The petition signatures in question had been gathered before the signers were registered by Cole as voters.
However, they had been counted because the petition they signed was postdated and therefore appeared to have been signed after the voters had been registered.
Another argument was that the sheer number of postdated petitions indicated an intentional dishonesty on the part of the signature gatherers.
Andy Berry, whose motion to intervene in the complaint was granted, disagreed.
Berry argued that, while the law technically rendered the signatures invalid, the people who signed the petition had done so after completing their registration and signed the petition fully understanding what they were signing.
In his ruling, Thomas noted legislation that implied that the incorrect dates should not invalidate the signatures:
"[Arkansas Code Annotated] Section 7-9-104 (b) provides that the fact that some fail to sign the name or write the residence or city or town of residence exactly as it appears on voter registration records, or fail to print the name in the space provided, or fail to provide the correct date of signing the petition, shall not invalidate the signature," Thomas wrote.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit opposing the petition were William "Coke" Viser and Rick Mays, both Arkadelphia citizens.
Viser is an OBU professor and Mays is a local minister.
The men had filed a complaint against County Clerk Rhonda Cole alleging that some signatures on the petition had been postdated and should not be counted.
Andi Davis, attorney to the plaintiffs, raised multiple arguments for the complaint.
One was that the signatures were invalid because a person is not considered a registered voter in Clark County until his or her registration has been processed by the county clerk.
The petition signatures in question had been gathered before the signers were registered by Cole as voters.
However, they had been counted because the petition they signed was postdated and therefore appeared to have been signed after the voters had been registered.
Another argument was that the sheer number of postdated petitions indicated an intentional dishonesty on the part of the signature gatherers.
Andy Berry, whose motion to intervene in the complaint was granted, disagreed.
Berry argued that, while the law technically rendered the signatures invalid, the people who signed the petition had done so after completing their registration and signed the petition fully understanding what they were signing.
In his ruling, Thomas noted legislation that implied that the incorrect dates should not invalidate the signatures:
"[Arkansas Code Annotated] Section 7-9-104 (b) provides that the fact that some fail to sign the name or write the residence or city or town of residence exactly as it appears on voter registration records, or fail to print the name in the space provided, or fail to provide the correct date of signing the petition, shall not invalidate the signature," Thomas wrote.
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whitelikesourcream
whitelikesourcream
posted 10/22/08 @ 7:21 PM CST
Yeah! Great story!!
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