A criminal justice reform initiative, expected to be on the November ballot, is being challenged in court for allegedly deceiving voters. The opposition says the 100-word summary does not tell voters all that would change if they voted for the initiative. Proponents say the 100-word limit didn’t leave much room for explanation of their 10-page proposal. But Attorney Colin Ahler, who represents the challengers, says this is not good enough.
"They seem to be arguing that it's perfectly acceptable to deceive people with a 100-word description so long as the deception can't not be shown to be objectively false," Ahler said.
One thing challengers point out is that the description does not inform voters that the measure would eliminate the requirement that people incarcerated need to be at an eighth-grade reading level before they’re released. Attorney Kory Langhofer represents supporters of the measure. He argues that’s not a deal-breaker for voters.
“There's no evidence that people would have not supported this if they'd been told that the literacy requirement was going away,” Langhofer said.
Langhofer also said if this measure is barred from the ballot, it would be a huge burden on Arizonans who wish to follow through with their state constitutional rights to propose their own laws and draft up complex measures.
Other arguments include challengers saying that despite the initiative claiming it affects people who committed nondangerous offenses, the initiative would actually help lessen sentences for dangerous people who committed crimes such as sex trafficking of children and terrorism. But Langhofer says the Legislature defined what a "nondangerous offense" was, and the initiative was just using the same definition; and, therefore, not a problem caused by the measure itself.
