On June 30, U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Brooks, an Obama appointee, struck down some Arkansas restrictions on the initiative petitioning process. He set a trial to decide certain other issues, and he upheld the county distribution requirement. League of Women Voters of Arkansas v Jester, w.d., 5:25cv-5087. Here is the Opinion.

The ban on out-of-state circulators will go to trial. Also the ban on paying petitioners per-signature will go to trial.

Laws struck down include forcing initiative petitioners to show everyone they approach the petitioner’s photo-ID; the requirement that petitioners tell everyone they approach that initiative fraud is a criminal offense; that initiative sponsors disclose a list of all petitioners before the drive starts; that petitioners must have not committed any crime in the past; and a requirement that initiative sponsors pay the state for the costs of running legal notices in newspapers.