Voucher-reform measure hangs by a thread as Supreme Court weighs signatures

Whether Arizona voters see Proposition 212, which would cap voucher eligibility by income and add oversight requirements, depends on how the state Supreme Court resolves a dispute over double-counted invalid signatures. County recorders found a 75.2% validity rate among sampled petition signatures, a number that lands almost exactly on the line determining whether the measure qualifies, depending on whether roughly 24,000 signatures are added back to the total.

Opponents, including the Arizona Free Enterprise Club and the House Speaker, have already declared the measure dead and claimed a 'major victory,' while backers insist it's 'still on the ballot' and are reviewing county-by-county validity checks for errors. The dispute exists because a trial judge invalidated tens of thousands of challenged signatures, and Prop. 212's backers argue that ruling double-counts some already-excluded duplicates.

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