McDaniel v. Spencer

Summary

The Supreme Court of Arkansas reviewed constitutional challenges to sections of Act 1413 of 2013, which amended Arkansas laws governing initiative and referendum petitions. The court upheld sections 3, 11, 15, and 21, including requirements concerning paid canvassers, petition information, and canvasser verification. It held section 13 unconstitutional because prohibiting the collection of additional signatures after filing imposed an unwarranted restriction on the constitutional right to circulate petitions.

Holdings

1. Section 21 of Act 1413 does not impose an unwarranted restriction on the initiative and referendum rights protected by article 5, section 1 of the Arkansas Constitution.
2. The terms "anything of value" and "current residence address" in section 21 are not unconstitutionally vague.
3. Section 21 does not violate appellees' rights to free speech or petition under the Arkansas Constitution.
4. The different treatment of paid and volunteer canvassers under section 21 is rationally related to a legitimate governmental purpose and does not violate equal protection.
5. Section 3 of Act 1413 is constitutional, including its requirements that petitioners provide printed identifying information, that disability assistance be documented, and that canvassers comply with specified eligibility and anti-fraud requirements.
6. Section 11's requirement that paid canvassers provide a current residence address does not violate due process or equal protection.
7. Section 13 of Act 1413 is unconstitutional because prohibiting further circulation and collection of signatures after filing and before the Secretary of State determines sufficiency is an unwarranted restriction on the right to circulate petitions.
8. Section 15 is constitutional and does not violate equal protection.
9. Most of section 18 is constitutional, but Arkansas Code Annotated section 7-9-126(b)(7), which invalidates an entire petition part containing signatures from more than one county unless out-of-county signatures are stricken before filing, is unconstitutional.
10. Section 18(d), which requires rejection of an initially insufficient petition and bars acceptance of additional signatures to cure the insufficiency, is constitutional.

Questions Presented

1. Whether section 21 of Act 1413, imposing identification, disclosure, training, criminal-history, and photograph requirements on paid canvassers, was an unwarranted restriction on the initiative and referendum rights protected by article 5, section 1 of the Arkansas Constitution.
2. Whether the terms "anything of value" and "current residence address" in section 21 were unconstitutionally vague.
3. Whether section 21 violated Arkansas constitutional rights to free speech, petition, or equal protection by treating paid canvassers differently from volunteer canvassers.
4. Whether section 3's requirements concerning petitioner information, disability assistance, canvasser eligibility, and fraud prevention violated article 5, section 1 or due process.
5. Whether section 11's requirement that canvassers provide a current residence address violated due process or equal protection.
6. Whether section 13's prohibition on collecting additional signatures after filing a petition and before the Secretary of State determined sufficiency was an unconstitutional restriction.
7. Whether section 15's requirements for identifying paid canvassers and certifying their training violated equal protection.
8. Whether section 18's signature-counting rules, including invalidation of petition parts containing signatures from more than one county, violated article 5, section 1 or due process.
9. Whether section 18(d)'s refusal to accept additional signatures to cure an initially insufficient petition was constitutional.

Disposition

other