Kara L. Benca, Petitioner v. Mark Martin

Summary

The court granted the petition challenging the Secretary of State’s count of signatures supporting a statewide initiative. Applying the statutory requirements for paid canvassers, canvasser residence addresses, and verification dates, the court disqualified approximately 12,104 signatures, leaving approximately 65,412 valid signatures—below the required 67,887. The court upheld the counting of signatures despite canvassers’ failure to identify their paid or volunteer status and affirmed the master’s finding that the evidence did not establish that certain canvassers failed to witness signatures. Justice Goodson concurred while criticizing the statutory scheme as unduly burdensome, and Chief Justice Brill dissented, maintaining that the master’s findings should have been accepted and the initiative kept on the ballot.