Judge blocks officials from printing ballots

PHOENIX - A judge on Thursday blocked state and county officials from sending out ballots and publicity pamphlets until he rules whether an initiative outlawing affirmative action programs will be on the ballot — a move that could delay the start of early voting for the general election.

Local election coverage

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Edward Burke said backers of Proposition 104 are entitled to make their case to him that their measure was illegally kicked off the November ballot. Initiative supporters said county recorders improperly declared the signatures of some petitions signers to be invalid.

Kevin Tyne, deputy secretary of state, said the publicity pamphlets that contain the description of all the ballot measures were sent to the printer earlier this week — without Proposition 104. Tyne said if Burke does not rule soon there is no way for his office to meet its obligation to mail one of these to the home of every registered voter before the early ballots for the general election are sent out Oct. 2.

And Tyne pointed out that state law requires those pamphlets be in the hands of voters before they get those early ballots. What that could mean, he said, is having to ask Burke’s permission to let counties ignore that early voting deadline.

The pamphlets aren’t the only problem. Maricopa County Elections Director Karen Osborne said the back side of ballots — the side with the initiatives — also has gone to the printer.

That means if Burke ultimately rules that Proposition 104 should go to voters, the ballots will need to be reprinted. And that, Osborne said, could mean it may not be possible to print the front side — the side with the candidates who survive Tuesday’s primary — in time for the Oct. 2 mailing.

But Burke, at a hearing that started late Thursday, refused to summarily throw out the case.

The judge said the problems of election officials in complying with deadlines do not trump the right of initiative backers to present their case. And he gave backers until Wednesday to review more voter registration records.

Proposition 104 would ban state or local governments or schools from giving any preferences to anyone in employment, education or contracting based on sex, race, ethnicity or national origin. Initiative organizer Ward Connerly said the programs are a form of discrimination.

But county recorders said a random check of the nearly 335,000 signatures submitted concluded not enough of them were valid. Burke is being asked to let initiative backers prove otherwise.

At a hearing Thursday night, Max McPhail, director of the Arizona Civil Rights Initiative, testified he and other initiative staff members have reviewed some of the names Osborne determined were not valid.

He said Osborne’s staff had made errors. But Jasper Altaha, county voter registration manager, told Burke there were good reasons they were rejected. In many cases, he said, the signatures did not match those on actual voter registration cards. Others were rejected for reasons ranging from people printing their names instead of signing them to invalid addresses.