On November 21, the Arizona Supreme Court unanimously upheld a state law that disqualifies petition signatures collected by certain kinds of petitioners. If the petition is challenged, and circulators are asked to appear at the hearing to testify, and they don’t show up, their signatures are invalid. Stanwitz v Reagan, cv-18-0222. Here is the 12-page opinion.

The case was filed by proponents of an statewide initiative concerning campaign finance. The proponents would have succeeded in getting their initiative on the ballot if the signatures of the no-show circulators had been counted. The proponents argued that election officials were capable of determining whether the initiative had enough valid signatures, without the testimony from the no-show circulators. But the Court rejected that argument. Circulators who have had felony convictions are not permitted to circulate in Arizona, and the Court said that it was necessary to have the circulators to appear, partly in order for the challengers to determine if the circulators had a prior felony conviction.