South Dakota - anti-smoking leaders challenge petition..

July 4, 2009 - Opponents of the South Dakota smoking ban collected enough signatures to delay the ban that would have started on July 1st. The referendum petitions had prevented the ban from taking effect July 1 at the same time as most other new South Dakota laws passed by the Legislature last session.

Leaders of South Dakota’s anti-tobacco movement filed a last hour challenge to their referendum petitions Thursday, July 2nd. If the petitions survive the challenge, a statewide vote would be held as part of the November 2010 general election.

That’s because the leader of South Dakota’s anti-tobacco movement filed a last hour challenge to their referendum petitions Thursday.

The referendum petitions had prevented the ban from taking effect July 1 at the same time as most other new South Dakota laws passed by the Legislature last session.

If the petitions survive the challenge, a statewide vote would be held as part of the November 2010 general election. But if Jennifer Stalley of the American Cancer Society is right, there won’t be a vote at all and the ban would kick in when the legal dust settles. Stalley delivered a thick binder to the office of Secretary of State Chris Nelson, whose staff oversees election compliance, challenging the petitions at about 4 p.m. Thursday.

In her affidavit, Stalley claims there are 9,891 signatures on the petitions which are invalid because they don’t comply in some way with state requirements. Her goal is to have sufficient signatures thrown out so that the smoking ban’s opponents don’t meet the minimum of 17,776 valid signatures necessary for the referendum to proceed.

Deputy Secretary of State Teresa Bray indicated the next step is to begin looking at each one of the 9,891 challenges.

Reference: State vote no longer certain on smoking ban for bars, cafés, The Daily Republic, 7/3/2009.

Related news briefs: South Dakota - smoking ban to start July 1, 2009 may be delayed..; South Dakota - opponents try to stop extended smoking ban..; South Dakota - extends smoking ban effective July 1, 2009...