Dream Act opponents produce 75,000 petition signatures

By David Hill
The Washington Times
8:07 p.m., Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Organizers of a petition to repeal Maryland’s Dream Act turned in nearly 75,000 signatures on June 30, according to a count released Wednesday by the state Board of Elections.

State election officials said they received 74,980 signatures that day in opposition to the law, which would allow many college-aged illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition. Petitioners hoped to suspend the law and force a November 2012 referendum. They needed to collect at least 55,736 valid voter signatures by the end of June.

The petitions are expected to easily meet the goal. They turned in 47,288 valid signatures on May 31, which means they would need just 8,448 of the 74,980 new names — or 11 percent of them — to be approved.

Officials have until July 22 to verify the new signatures. More than 80 percent of the signatures turned in May 31 proved valid.

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