AUGUST
28 , 2006
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On Friday, Aug. 25, the Secretary of State's office certified the proponents
deficiency in valid signatures needed to place the SB 7 referendum on
November's ballot. The Secretary of State certified a deficiency of
almost 73,000 signatures statewide AND a deficiency in 24 counties.
The proponents of this referendum will have 10 days from the date they
receive the letter to file additional signatures. The 10 day period
should end around September 7. If the UAW and small group of claimant
attorneys supporting the referendum are unsuccessful in submitting enough
supplemental signatures in this 10 day window this issue will NOT be
on November's ballot. For the
history on this issue and details on specific provisions of SB 7 being
challenged CLICK HERE.
WHAT IS THE BASIS FOR THESE RESULTS?
**INFORMATION UPDATED AS OF MONDAY, AUGUST 28, 2006**
The UAW/claimant attorney group has two requirements that must be met
in order for this referendum to be on November's ballot. They still
have not met either requirement.
REQUIREMENT #1: The total number of VALID signatures that is needed
for the
referendum to be on the November ballot = 193,740 (6% of the last gubernatorial
election)
How close are they to obtaining 193,740 valid signatures so far?
(1) Total number of signatures submitted by the UAW/claimant attorney
group = 239,104
(2) Number of signatures found to be valid = 120,778
(3) Number of individual signatures found to be invalid = 113,424
(4) Total number of petitions submitted by the UAW/claimant attorney
group = 14,112
(5) Number of valid petitions = 13,925
(6) Number of petitions (pages with signatures) found invalid = 187
(7) Number of signatures found invalid because the petition was found
invalid = 4,902
(8) Total number of signatures found invalid = 118,326
REQUIREMENT #2: Signatures from at least 44 counties must equal
or exceed 3% of the vote cast in those counties in the last gubernatorial
election (2002) are also needed for the referendum to be on the November
ballot.
How close are they to obtaining enough signatures from 44 counties so
far?
(1) Thus far, this group has only met this 3% threshold in 20 counties.
BUT, there are several counties that are a few votes shy of the total
number needed to meet this threshold. Therefore, we cannot let our guard
down!
BOTTOM LINE - What do all of these numbers mean?
The UAW/claimant attorney group are approximately 72,962 votes shy of
the requirement (193,740) and they need enough signatures in 24 more
counties to fulfill the 44 county requirement stated above. In addition,
the invalidation rate of signatures is nearly 50%, meaning that almost
half the signatures collected were found to be invalid.
What happens next?
The petitioners have an additional 10 days to "cure" the defective
signatures and file additional petitions. Therefore, we should have
a good idea whether this issue will be on November's ballot within the
next TWO WEEKS!! If the petitioners do not submit enough supplemental
signatures within this 10 day window to meet both requirements above
this issue will NOT be on November's ballot.
What can you do to help?
The group challenging SB 7 is out on the streets collecting signatures!
So, make sure to tell friends, family, coworkers, clients or employees
around the state NOT to sign petitions for the UAW‚s challenge
to SB 7. |
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