Our Community, Our Dollars, Appellant/cross-Appellee v. David Bullock, Tiffany Francis, and Bryan Keaton…

Summary

The court reversed the circuit court’s determination that a local-option petition lacked sufficient signatures and remanded for a de novo review that includes 720 signatures the county clerk had not initially examined. It held that the clerk’s statutory deadline did not restrict the circuit court’s evidentiary review, that the statutory burden-shifting rule for allegedly forged signatures applied and was constitutional, and that the petition substantially complied with applicable form requirements. The court also affirmed the counting of signatures collected after filing but before the clerk’s notice of insufficiency. Justice Corbin, joined by the Chief Justice and Justice Danielson, dissented, contending that the case was moot and that the majority’s remedy improperly displaced the county clerk’s statutory role.