State officials finish review of anti-voucher law petitions

PHOENIX (AP) - State elections officials have completed their initial review of petition sheets turned in to block Arizona’s ambitious school voucher program expansion.

Elections Director Eric Spencer said Tuesday the petition sheets have all been reviewed three times since voucher opponents turned them in a week ago. The Secretary of State’s office will prepare a 5 percent sample of signatures for county recorders to verify. They’ll likely be sent out by Thursday, and recorders will have 15 work days to review them.

Voucher opponents turned in more than 111,000 signatures. Spencer didn’t have an estimate on how many his office invalidated.

If slightly more than 75,000 are deemed valid, the new law remains on hold until the November 2018 election barring a legal victory by voucher backers who have already launched challenges.