With the COVID-19 pandemic making the in-person collection of petition signatures too dangerous to be carried out responsibly, Arizona’s Outlaw Dirty Money campaign made the difficult decision to halt its campaign operations, with 75% of the required signatures in hand as of mid-March. Today, in an open letter to the more than 2,000 campaign volunteers, Campaign Chair Terry Goddard issued a formal announcement that the campaign will not be filing signatures to qualify for the 2020 ballot.
I write to confirm what you may already know, the Voters’ Right to Know initiative, also known as Outlaw Dirty Money, will not be filing signatures next Thursday to get on the 2020 ballot. I cannot express how hard it is for me to say this especially to someone who has contributed to this cause as generously as you have.
The total signatures required for a constitutional amendment is 347,000. As of the middle of March, with over 275,000 signatures in hand, we were in excellent shape to qualify by the July 2nd deadline. But, when the Governor issued the stay at home order, we suspended all person to person signature gathering. By the time the order expired on May 15th, we had lost two prime months and faced a continuing public health crisis. Getting signatures while social distancing is difficult, some say impossible. A large group of our incredible volunteers voted unanimously that it would not be either safe or in the public health interest to continue gathering signatures , even if that meant we could not qualify ODM for the ballot. Given the accelerating course of the virus in Arizona, I am more confident than ever that we made the right decision.
I am sure you share my disappointment that our initiative will not be on the ballot this year. The sad fact is that we were forced to choose between the public health and our constitutional right to petition for changes in the law. There have been many tragedies and sacrifices from the Covid-19 emergency, but this one could still be averted with some political will. Over 1,200 of our supporters wrote to the Governor and the leaders in the Legislature asking for a one-time exception to allow the signatures gathered in this election cycle be applied to qualifying for the 2022 ballot (May 29 letter, attached). Such a move is within the Governor’s emergency powers to protect health or if he does not act, the legislature could. In the interest of fairness and protecting important constitutional rights, they should.
I greatly regret being the bearer of this sad news. So much time and treasure has been spent on this effort that, until Covid-19 hit, had every prospect of success. I am confident that our decision to suspend activities was the right one. We simply could not in good conscience jeopardize volunteer or public health or deluge you with frantic last-minute requests for funds for an at best dim prospect of success. I hope the request for a one-time exception is successful so all our work will not have been in vain. Please put is a good word with legislators or legislative candidates you contact between now and the election. We have a lot of endorsements so far, but need a few more.
I am profoundly grateful for all your support for ODM, many thanks and stay safe, Terry
