A last-minute lawsuit filed Wednesday in Arizona seeks to put a decertified affirmative action ban back on the ballot. The lawsuit argues that election officials in four counties wrongly deemed a number of voter signatures to be invalid and that if these signatures were recounted, then the measure would qualify, according to the Associated Press. As of Thursday, ballot printing has been stopped in several counties pending the resolution of the new lawsuit.
The ballot measure (see PDF) was disqualified by Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer last week. If placed on the ballot and approved by voters in November, the measure would amend the Arizona State Constitution to ban affirmative action for women and people of color in public education, public employment, and public contracting.
Similar anti-affirmative action bans will be on the November ballot in Nebraska and Colorado. Proposed measures in Missouri and Oklahoma both failed to receive enough signatures to qualify.
