KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Secretary of State Jason Kander filed an application late Tuesday to transfer a case on the Early Childhood Education and Health Amendment initiative petition to the Supreme Court.
The IP, filed by Raise Your Hands For Kids (RYH4K), could potentially be stricken from the ballot because its language was rewritten by the Western District Court of Appeals. The language was rewritten Friday when the appellate court ruled in favor of a lawsuit filed by a cigarette seller from Springfield named Jim Boeving who alleged the summary statement written by Kander, which is used to collect signatures for the petition, was unfair.
The IP would raise taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products to pay for early childhood education.
Motions filed by Kander to rehear the case or transfer it to the state Supreme Court were denied by the Western District Court Tuesday morning.
Around 4 p.m. Tuesday, Kander appealed directly to the Supreme Court to overturn the language change, stating that the ballot measure was “in jeopardy.” Chuck Hatfield, Boeving’s attorney, notes that it’s possible if the Supreme Court does not take up the case or rule in favor of Kander, the ballot measure could be invalidated.
“There’s not any clear case law on this, but the law says the secretary of state shall not count signatures unless they have the correct ballot title on them, and because the court has changed the ballot title at this late date, they turned in signatures with an incorrect ballot title,” Hatfield said.
However, Jack Cardetti, a spokesman supporting the initiative petition, said definitively that would not happen.
“The decision by the lower court has no effect on the ballot campaign and the viability of the Early Childhood Education and Health Amendment,” he said in a statement. “Our initiative petition will appear on the ballot in November, and we cannot see any legal basis for any court to strip the constitutionally guaranteed right of the people of the State of Missouri. The 330,000 signatures of Missouri voters will not be invalidated by the short-sighted greed of the opposition.”
To make matters worse for the supporters of the IP, the deadline for the Missouri Supreme Court to make their ruling is Wednesday, July 13, meaning they have one day to choose to take the case and rule in favor of Kander.
