LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — On Monday, the Arkansas Supreme Court rejected part of a lawsuit against the casino amendment that argued the number of signatures collected for the measure was “insufficient” after all invalid signatures were removed.
The unanimous decision rejected this notion.
In their ruling, the Arkansas Supreme Court said that the Arkansas Canvassing Compliance Committee, and Cherokee Nation Entertainment, LLC, the groups behind the lawsuit, did not provide enough evidence that canvassers broke state laws in the signature gathering process.
“Part of our lawsuit challenged the signature gathering process and what we thought were violations of Arkansas law,” Spokesperson for the Arkansas Canvassing Compliance Committee Allison Burum said. “Unfortunately, the Supreme Court did not agree with us on that one.”
The group in favor of the amendment, Local Voters in Charge, said they are happy the votes were counted.
“It's no small thing for the Supreme Court to unanimously rule that our committee got it right on the canvassing process,” Hans Stiritz with Local Voters in Charge said. “Over 110,000 signatures were affirmed on it to keep Issue Two moving forward towards having the votes counted on the ballot.”
The office of Secretary of State John Thurston said that the Casino Amendment was certified to the ballot on Aug. 22. They add that the court’s decision has not changed that.
Burum said her groups hope that if voted on during the November General Election, votes are not counted towards the amendment.
Issue Two, or the casino amendment, would require county-wide special elections before issuing other casino licenses in the state.
It would also repeal a license previously awarded to Cherokee Entertainment to build a casino in Pope County.
Stiritz said the goal for the amendment is to give voters a voice when casinos want to built in their counties.
"When it comes to a controversial decision for a community such as the construction of the casino, really the final say on that should be made by the people that live in that community, the people who are affected by it.,” Stiritz said.
Burum said this argument is misleading to potential voters.
“This funder is a casino operator that was not successful in its own attempt to get the Pope County casino license,” Burum said. “Now they don't want the competition across the state line in Pocola, and they're spending tens of millions of dollars to amend the state's constitution to eliminate the Pope County casino license.”
She adds plans for the casino are already in place, with 300 acres of land already purchased.
“The only thing it stands to do is kill this $300 million economic development project that voters approved in 2018, a project that has already been licensed by the racing commission and is also approved by local government in Pope County, the Pope County Judge, the Pope County quorum court.” Burum said. “Pope County mayors want the economic growth that the casino license will bring.”
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