Opinion ID: 1611883
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Whether the Petitions Contained an Adequate Number of Legally Proper Signatures.

Text: Plaintiffs next argue that, even if the board did have authority to invalidate the petitions for good cause, there was no valid legal reason for doing so in the present case. Once again we are forced to search for the resulting federal law violation should plaintiffs' claims prove to be true. To establish the violation of a federal right, plaintiffs rely on Duncan v. Poythress, 657 F.2d 691, 703-04 (5th Cir.1981). That case held that a federal right of substantive due process may be violated when state officials act to disenfranchise voters in violation of state law. The board of directors' argument points out that the present case differs substantially from the situation in Duncan. That case involved the failure to hold an election mandated by statute for purposes of filling a vacancy on the state supreme court. In the present case, an election is not mandated, and more importantly, the record makes clear that irrespective of the validity of plaintiffs' petitions no election would have been held. [1] Notwithstanding the fact that no election would have been called, plaintiffs would have been able to block participation in the instructional support program had their petitions been found to be valid. We need not determine whether the rationale of the Duncan case applies to the present factual situation because we conclude that the board's rejection of the petitions was proper. Petitions used to invoke the procedure of section 257.18(2) are to request (to the board of education) that an election be called to approve or disapprove the action of the board in adopting the instructional support program. The petitions that plaintiff circulated ask that an election be called to determine whether the Davenport school district should participate in the instructional support levy program. While at first blush this difference in wording may seem slight, it is in fact significant. The language contained in plaintiffs' petitions failed to inform those persons signing them that the issue to be decided in the election was the validity of the action already taken by the board of education. Based on that omission and the language that was in fact used, signers could infer that an election was necessary in order to have the instructional support levy. Such a belief could entice persons who favored the levy to sign the petitions. Affidavits were filed by some signers indicating that this had in fact occurred. We conclude that the statement of the issue to be voted on deviated sufficiently from the realities of the statutory procedure that the petitions were invalid as a matter of law.