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ballot access initiative, referendum, and recall term limits

Like Zimbabwe

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Richard M. Lindstrom signed a petition, but his signature didn’t count.

The analytical chemist for the federal government left off his middle initial. He told the Washington Post, “I dropped my middle initial on my official signature, oh, I don’t know, probably 40 years ago. It’s my signature. It’s acceptable to my bank and everybody else. But not the Board of Elections.”

Welcome to Montgomery County, Maryland. The Old Line State may lack a statewide initiative, but it does have a robust initiative and referendum process at the county level of government. Unfortunately, as many as 80 percent of the signatures for two initiative petitions — one for term limits and another on ambulance fees — were recently invalidated by county officials. In 2008, the Maryland Court of Appeals declared that a person’s signature on a petition must be presented precisely as signed on his or her voter registration form or, alternatively, must include the surname from the registration and one full given name as well as the initials of all other names.

Longtime petition activist Robin Ficker led the term limits drive. But his signature didn’t count either. While he signed “Robin K. Ficker,” his full name is Robin Keith Annesley Ficker. He forgot the initial “A.”

“They are not even letting people have the chance to vote,” Ficker argued as he and others appeal the petition decision. “It’s the antithesis of a democracy. It’s what they would do in, like, Zimbabwe.”

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

5 replies on “Like Zimbabwe”

To Richard:
Or, the illegals; or the people (IE college students) who voted at the college (town or city) as well as the town or city where they reside when not in school (usually with their parent/parents), and no checking on them, either.

And, the criminals-those in and those who should be in, prisons.

It’s the lawyers stupid!
America has become a tyrannical dictatorship by lawyers. I am sure glad we moved our business to Brazil. We are now globally competitive, highly successful and it is a breath of fresh air not having lawyers breathing down our necks at every turn or move…

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