Opinion ID: 2569886
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: Confusing language

Text: As regards the Legislature's argument that the term-limit ballot question's language confused voters, [66] the Legislature's contention presents us with the unenviable task of determining whether voters were confused or misled by the ballot question when they approved it over a decade ago. Other than pointing to the ballot question's language and posing hypotheticals, however, the Legislature has not provided us with any evidence  much less evidence beyond a reasonable doubt  that voters were indeed confused or misled by that language approximately 12 years ago. Without strong evidence showing that voters were confused or misled, to now determine, in hindsight, that they were, is nearly impossible. Moreover, the significant consequences of invalidating a voter-enacted constitutional amendment based on the language of the ballot question underlying it, after this state's constituents and would-be candidates have been relying on its existence for over one decade is likewise problematic. These are the very types of problems that the laches doctrine was designed to avoid. `Laches is an equitable doctrine which may be invoked when delay by one party works to the disadvantage of the other, causing a change of circumstances which would make the grant of relief to the delaying party inequitable.' [67] To determine whether a challenge is barred by the doctrine of laches, this court considers (1) whether the party inexcusably delayed bringing the challenge, (2) whether the party's inexcusable delay constitutes acquiescence to the condition the party is challenging, and (3) whether the inexcusable delay was prejudicial to others. [68] According to the Legislature, it did not inexcusably delay bringing this challenge to Article 15, Section 3(2)'s validity because it was not ripe for review until this year, when real parties in interest's candidacies were challenged under Article 15, Section 3(2). But the Legislature is challenging the clarity of the ballot question's language. This sort of procedural challenge is ripe for judicial review preelection, before the ballot question is presented to the voters, since the question to be resolved is whether [the] proposal has satisfied all constitutional and statutory requirements for placement on the ballot. [69] To acquiesce to the ballot question's language before the 1994 and 1996 general elections only to challenge now whether it satisfied requirements for placement on the ballot 12 years ago is unconventional. And to consider the challenge and resolve it in the Legislature's favor would be prejudicial to the voters who for the last 12 years have been relying on the amendment that they approved and its now imminent implementation. Had the Legislature successfully challenged the ballot question's language 12 years ago, the voters or the question's proponents potentially could have remedied the question's infirmities by proposing a similar 12-year term-limit amendment in the immediately following general elections. We thus conclude that the doctrine of laches applies and, consequently, precludes the Legislature from challenging the term-limit ballot question's clarity. As no other challenges to the amendment's enactment has been timely made, we conclude that it was validly enacted into law.