DREAM petition signatures go public

By PAMELA WOOD, Staff Writer
Published 06/28/11

If you thought your signature on the DREAM Act petition was private, think again.

The Maryland State Board of Elections plans to scan thousands of pages of signatures in response to four Public Information Act requests.

Three state delegates involved in the petition drive and a lawyer for the immigrant-rights group Casa de Maryland requested copies of the signature sheets, according to the Board of Elections.

The signature sheets are public documents and anyone can request to review them, according to Linda Lamone, state elections administrator.

Opponents of the DREAM Act are in the midst of a petition drive in hope of forcing a referendum on the measure.

The DREAM Act, passed by state lawmakers this year, would allow illegal immigrants to pay college tuition at in-state rates under certain circumstances.

Opponents hope voters will overturn the law.

They must gather 55,736 signatures from Maryland voters by midnight on Thursday. Elections officials have already verified 47,288 signatures.

Some petition signers are worried that their names and addresses will be made public, according to petition organizers.

"There's a belief that this violates an individual's sense that their decision to sign this petition is in some way respected with a minimal level of privacy - that it was just between them and the Board of Elections," said Del. Nic Kipke, R-Pasadena, a petition organizer in Anne Arundel County.

Some Republicans spent the last few days decrying the fact that Casa de Maryland would be getting the information.

Kipke suggested that Casa de Maryland might use the information for voter intimidation or even to sell to a third party.

But Joseph Sandler, a Washington-based attorney for Casa de Maryland, said that nothing of the sort is planned.

Sandler said his client - just like the petition organizers - wants to see how elections officials decided which signatures were valid and which ones weren't.

"The purpose is to review the decisions made by the board and determine if those were made appropriately … There's no way in the world that we would ever use the names of people who signed the petition for any other purpose than checking if they validly signed the petition," Sandler said.

The Board of Elections sent disks with information on petition signers to Sandler and to Dels. Michael Smigiel Sr., R-Cecil; Neil Parrott, R-Washington County; and Pat McDonough, R-Baltimore County, after they requested it, said Lamone, the elections administrator.

The scanning of the petition sheets will take longer, she said.

Rumors spread over the last few days that elections officials had planned to hand over the petition sheets to Casa de Maryland so that it could make its own copies. Smigiel wrote about this on his blog on Friday.

Lamone, however, said that never was under consideration.

"It was never going to happen and is not going to happen," she said. "I don't know where they got that information."

Petition organizers already have put their disks full of information to work. Smigiel posted a list of rejected signatures - with the addresses removed - on his website so people could check whether their signature was rejected and possibly attempt to re-sign the petition before Thursday.

Meanwhile, Casa de Maryland and other supporters of the DREAM Act are ramping up their efforts. Casa and several other groups, including unions, have joined forces as One Maryland Defense.

Petitioners have described unpleasant encounters with DREAM Act supporters, though Kipke said they've been less active in Anne Arundel.

Sean Johnson, a lobbyist for the Maryland State Education Association, said a goal of the coalition is to educate voters about the benefits of the DREAM Act before they sign the petition.

MSEA, he said, supports the DREAM Act because it would open doors to college for deserving youngsters who might not be able to attend if they had to pay tuition at out-of-state rates.

People signing the petition "may not even know the action that they're taking and what it means when they are signing it," he said.


Petition organizers are online at www.mdpetitions.com , while One Maryland Defense is online at www.onemarylanddefense.com. The list of rejected signatures is posted at http://delegatemike.com/?p=2743 .

pwood@capitalgazette.com

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