Opinion ID: 2384041
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: clarification memorandum opinion

Text: In an oral ruling of the District of Columbia Board of Elections' and Ethics (the Board) rendered on August 3, 2004, as memorialized in a written Memorandum Opinion and Order issued on August 13, 2004, the Board concluded that the petition circulation process for the Video Lottery Terminal Initiative of 2004 (Initiative Measure No. 68) was so polluted by irregularities and improprieties as to warrant the rejection of signatures collected by Stars and Stripes, Inc., the primary petition drive subcontractor operating out of the Red Roof Inn hotel. Following an appeal to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the Court, by Order entered on September 13, 2004, remanded the record to the Board for a clarification of the Board's Opinion. Specifically, the Board was directed to address the question whether the Board's finding regarding false signings is an independent basis  separate from its false advertising finding  upon which the Board intends its decision to invalidate the Stars and Stripes petition sheets to rest, and if so, the reasons why. ( See Order at 5.) [1a] The Board was also invited to offer any additional explanation for the exclusion of signatures gathered by particular Stars and Stripes circulators or sub-classes of such circulators in addition to those who testified or were named in testimony before the Board. ( Id. ) This Clarification Memorandum Opinion constitutes the Board's response to the Court's inquiries. The Board's finding regarding false signings is separate from its false advertisement finding and provides an independent basis on which the Board intends its decision to rest. Because of the pervasiveness of the irregularities associated with the false signings and the accompanying pollution of the process that those irregularities fostered, the Board's decision invalidating the Stars and Stripes petition sheets rests independently on the finding regarding false signings. The reasons, together with explanatory information regarding the justification for excluding Stars and Stripes circulators, are discussed below.