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ACLU  SUES TO PROTECT EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

Oklahoma voters filed a protest on March 7, 2008 before the state Supreme Court challenging irregularities and questionable practices in the collection of signatures by the so-called Oklahoma Civil Rights Initiative. The initiative is one of a series of ballot measures that California businessman Ward Connerly and his organization known as the American Civil Rights Institute (ACRI) have spearheaded across the country.

“When equal opportunity and the civil rights of our residents are at stake, it is critically important that the electoral process is fair, transparent and honest,” said C.S. Thornton, Legal Director for the ACLU of Oklahoma. “We are confident that this review will confirm what has already been discovered – the signature-gathering process was riddled with errors.”
 
The legal challenge follows the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s certification of the ballot measure’s signatures and Monday’s publication of the signatures’ alleged sufficiency by Secretary of State M. Susan Savage. Last month, Savage noted in a letter to the court that the signature count “has resulted in an unprecedented situation where large numbers of duplicate names and addresses were discovered well into the signature counting process….[and] it is a reasonable assumption that not all duplicates have been discovered.” Savage also noted that her report to the court took much more time to compile than usual “due to the scope and number of irregularities noted among the signature pages.” Among the irregularities Savage noted were numerous instances of circulators signing their own petitions multiple times.
 
If this measure – initiated and funded by California-based interests – appears on the ballot, it would threaten access to equal opportunity for countless Oklahomans. Connerly’s similar ballot initiative in California dramatically reduced the participation of women and minorities in higher education, contracting, and employment. After it passed in 1996, the number of women employed in California’s construction industry declined by 33 percent. The number of minority businesses in the state’s transportation construction industry declined even more sharply, with just a third of such enterprises in existence in 1996 still in business by 2006.
 
“It is well known that Connerly and his front groups have repeatedly misappropriated the language of the civil rights movement to trick voters into ending equal opportunity programs in states across the country. But we the voters of Oklahoma must not be fooled,” said State Representative Mike Shelton, D-Oklahoma City. “Although we are strongly opposed to the content of this ballot measure, today’s challenge is about protecting the integrity of the electoral process in the state of Oklahoma.”
 
In addition to Representative Shelton, individuals bringing this challenge include Representative Jabar Shumate, Fannie Bates, Randall T. Coyne, Bob Darcy, Bernadette Huber, Rey Madrid, Bernice Mitchell, Earl D. Mitchell, Jr., and Juanita Vasquez Sykes.
 
Recently, Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson revised the ballot measure’s title to make clear to voters that Connerly’s initiative threatens to dismantle affirmative action programs in the state. Nationwide, courts have repeatedly recognized that the intent of these initiatives is to eliminate programs that promote equal access and opportunities for women and minorities. Reports indicate that ACRI has used misleading practices in nearly every state in which it has introduced initiatives.

UPDATE:

BALLOT PETITION HITS
FIREWALL IN OKLAHOMA

In a significant blow to a national effort to curtail equal opportunity in America, backers of a proposed amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution that would end equal access and opportunity programs in the state asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court on April 4, 2008 to withdraw the measure from consideration. The move comes after supporters of the so-called Oklahoma Civil Rights Initiative -spearheaded by wealthy California businessman Ward Connerly's American Civil Rights Institute (ACRI) as part of a national crusade against affirmative action - failed to collect a sufficient number of valid signatures needed to get the proposal on this November's ballot. In conceding defeat, Connerly characterized the ACRI's efforts in Oklahoma as a "miscalculation" and "a roll of the dice."

"When Ward Connerly rolled the dice by filing his ill-conceived petition, he gambled with not only his funds but also Oklahoma taxpayer dollars," said C.S. Thornton, ACLU of Oklahoma Legal Director.

Oklahoma is one of five states, along with Arizona, Colorado, Missouri and Nebraska, currently targeted by Connerly and his ACRI. The deceptively worded initiatives claim to end "discrimination" and "preferences," but have been cited as the basis for rolling back a wide range of affirmative action programs in each state where they have been adopted. The ACRI has been accused of deliberately misleading voters in every state where it has campaigned, including a year-and-a-half year ago in Michigan, where a federal court found the organization had engaged in voter fraud.

"The hope is that this is the beginning of the end of Mr. Connerly's flawed campaign," said John Payton, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF). "The attempts by supporters of this initiative to manipulate the democratic process never garnered support from the people of Oklahoma, who have instead stood up to defend access to equal opportunity for all."

"The most recent developments in Oklahoma only lend further legitimacy to the widespread concerns that have been raised about the tactics used by Connerly in each of the states he has targeted," said Reginald T. Shuford, ACLU Racial Justice Program Senior Staff Attorney. "The efforts of Connerly and the ACRI are an affront to the ideals they claim to support, and my hope is that this is only the first of a string of victories on behalf of the many Americans who believe so strongly in equality and equal opportunity."

The withdrawal follows a lawsuit challenging the proposal by the ACLU Foundation of Oklahoma, LDF, ACLU Racial Justice Program, and the ACLU Women's Rights Project, which raised deep concerns about the signature-gathering process and the constitutionality of the ballot petition itself.

"Secretary of State Susan Savage found numerous irregularities in the signature-gathering process," said Thornton. "We continue to find such deficiencies in our on-the-ground investigation, consistent with the beliefs of OCRI's own backers that its petition is defective and should be withdrawn."