Maryland court orders misleading slot machine ballot language revised
A state court has ruled that the proposed ballot language for Maryland’s November's slot-machine referendum is “misleading,” reports the Baltimore Sun. However, the panel of judges concluded the error could be fixed by adding a single word to clarify that state education programs are not the sole recipients of anticipated revenues. The judges ordered that the word “primary” be added to the ballot language. Irwin R. Kramer, the attorney for two anti-slots groups fighting a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize slots, had hoped the court would go further, adding that he planned to appeal the ruling to the state's highest court. The three-judge panel determined that by omitting the word "primary" from a ballot summary of the constitutional amendment bill passed by the General Assembly last year, Secretary of State John P. McDonough had violated state election law. The bill says the “primary” purpose of the slots referendum is to raise revenue for education projects; McDonough's ballot language instead reads that the amendment has “the purpose of raising revenue for education.” Despite finding that the ballot language was misleading, the court rejected Mr. Kramer's requests to alter the ballot language more significantly or to throw out the referendum entirely. If voters approve slots, nearly 50% of the revenue would go to public education. The rest of the money would subsidize the horse racing industry, with small businesses, local governments and gambling operators also receiving funds.
Source: Baltimore Sun, 9/11/08, By Gadi Dechter
[Editor’s Note: Other news from Missouri, North Carolina, and Illinois on school funding from gambling revenues is below. Last week, the Florida Supreme Court barred the state from placing three proposed constitutional amendments on the November ballot, finding one of them unconstitutionally misleading for failing to disclose to voters that it would guarantee only for one year that the proposed cut in property taxes would be offset for school budgets by increased sales tax revenues. See below.]
Columbia Tribune, 9/10/08, By Jason Rosenbaum
Wrightsville Beach Magazine, 9/08, By Emily Colin
Chicago Tribune, 9/10/08, By Ray Long
NSBA School Law pages on Florida ballot initiatives