LAST WEEK, COUNTY Voter Registrar Larry Bahill threatened to sic the county attorney's office on backers of the Livable Wage Initiative, which would raise the minimum wage in Tucson to $7 an hour.
Trouble between Bahill and the initiative backers had been brewing since June, when Bahill says the county recorder's office began to run out of voter registration forms.
When the petition drive first kicked off, supporters would pick up packs of 50 forms so they could register people who were signing their name to the effort. On a good day, says initiative organizer Jeff Imig, they could register 50 new voters who liked the idea of making more money.
For the last six weeks, though, Bahill hasn't been able to give them more than five or six forms at a time, because he says the county was waiting for new forms to be printed.
Since the recorder's office was low on forms, an anonymous backer of the initiative picked some up at one of the many alternative registration points in town. Imig is sketchy on the details of the forms' precise origin.
"Apparently, somebody who was also petitioning had run out and they went to a bunch of different places around town and picked up forms," he says, adding that he doesn't know who could have done such a thing.
The trouble started when Imig took the forms in last week, on Wednesday, July 12. Imig says Bahill spotted a little green dot in the corner and told him the marked forms were stolen and he was going to report him to the county attorney.
Asked about the threat, Bahill begins by saying, "We accept every form that's been printed by the county. I don't know what his problem is there."
His memory improves when asked if he had a problem with the marked forms.
"They had stolen them out of some office, that's correct," he says. "The forms that he brought to us were provided to a specific office under the national Voter Registration Act and we are required to report them back as coming in and out of that office. When he brings them back in to me, then I have to question where he got them."
But it would seem the marking system still has its flaws, because Bahill can't identify the "specific office" the forms came from.
"I have no idea where he got them," he admits.
Bahill hasn't ruled out taking the matter to the county attorney's office.
"I have no idea what we're going to do on that," he says. "We're investigating the whole thing on these forms."
Despite his concern of voter fraud and the possibility of legal action, Bahill doesn't think the incident is particularly newsworthy.
"The fact of the matter is, there's no story to it, as far as I can see," Bahill says. "We told him when the new forms would be available. He wanted to come in and raise a little bit of hell, and so he came in and raised his hell and he left. We haven't seen him since."
The new forms are now available.
JEFF IMIG IS pretty steamed about the whole affair. Chasing down the forms has eaten up a lot of hours.
"That was time that could have been spent petitioning," he gripes.
The continuing push for voter registration forms does raise an interesting question: Why are backers still collecting signatures, when the deadline for turning in initiatives was nearly two weeks ago, on July 6?
The livable wage backers only turned in about 15,000 signatures. Since they needed to collect nearly 11,000 from registered voters, and many signatures could be ruled invalid, there's a good chance the initiative might not make the ballot.
But the city charter has a loophole. If, after the 15-day verification process is finished, the city clerk's office determines an effort doesn't have enough signatures, the city grants a 10-day grace period to collect the required number. Anticipating a problem, the livable wage backers have continued to pass petitions.
"The city clerk told us to keep gathering," he says.
City Clerk Kathy Detrick confirms she gave the group the go-ahead to continue their effort.
"Our charter provides for the extra 10 days," says Detrick. "What we suggest to people is that they continue to circulate because there is no prohibition in our charter that keeps you from circulating during my verification process and quite frankly, initiative is great power the people have and we try to allow for whatever we can to make the process work."
Even with an extra three weeks for his effort, Imig doesn't know if the initiative will make it to the ballot.
"I don't know what's going to happen if it turns out we don't have enough signatures," says Imig. "I mean, this (problem with getting forms) is certainly hindering the process, because sometimes we have to tell people, 'We can't register you to vote, so I guess you can't sign.' "
All of this stuff about registration annoys Imig, who would prefer a more laid-back system.
"I personally don't think there should be registration to vote," he says. "North Dakota just lets people come in and vote if they want to vote."
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