Ann-Eve Pedersen

Summary

The court held that the initiative substantially complied with constitutional and statutory filing requirements despite the inadvertent submission of two versions, because the intended complete version was circulated with the petitions, was available to the Secretary of State, and the discrepancy posed little risk of voter confusion or fraud. The court declined to adopt a rule making every substantive difference between filed and circulated versions fatal and affirmed the order allowing the initiative to proceed. It also held that attorney fees were not mandatory because the law imposed no clearly defined duty on the Secretary of State in these unusual circumstances.