The Arkansas Supreme Court has struck down the ballot measure that would have legalized casinos in three counties.
Washington, Boone and Miller were the counties proposed as locations the casinos. The rights to run the casinos were to be given to three private companies. The Justices’ decision means that election officials will not count the casino votes cast on November 8.
The justices struck the proposal because “the title does not honestly and accurately reflect what is contained in the proposed amendment,” according to their opinion.
Sports gambling is illegal in Arkansas and the lack of specificity in the ballot title in regards to that illegality was cause enough for concern, they wrote.
Justices sided with opponents of the measure because of the ambiguity of the language in the proposal. The ballot title does not contain an entire synopsis of the proposed amendment but it should at least be complete enough to convey an “intelligible idea of the scope and import of the proposal,” the justices wrote.
The lawsuit against the measure was filed by a group funded by dog- and horse-track owners in the state that offer electronic forms of gambling. The suit claimed that the proposal was misleading for voters and didn’t follow state law for reporting and registering paid canvassers.