Judge orders Lake of the Ozarks-area casino question onto November ballot

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A plan for a casino on the Osage River in the Lake of the Ozarks area will appear before voters in November.

After previously finding the petition to not have enough valid signatures, a settlement filed Thursday states Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft determined the petition did in fact have enough signatures after a back-and-forth with its organizers.

Cole County Judge Daniel Green signed a final judgement Friday to get the proposal on the ballot after hearing from both sides.

The Secretary of State’s Office said earlier this month the initiative petition by Osage River Gaming and Convention did not have enough signatures and would not make the November ballot.

ORGC filed a lawsuit Aug. 20 asking a judge to put the gambling boat proposal on the November ballot, arguing the secretary of state did not count valid signatures.

According to the lawsuit, the secretary of state found the petition short 2,031 signatures from voters in the state’s Second Congressional District, the area south and east of St. Louis. But ORGC spokesperson John Hancock said the group had an excess of 2,500 valid signatures that they believe should have been counted.

After the lawsuit filing, ORGC submitted information about valid signatures that had not been counted, according to the settlement. The secretary of state found those valid.

The attorney for the Secretary of State's Office, Jason Lewis, said in the courtroom Friday that while the office did not agree that all disregarded signatures were valid, they did agree that enough were to hit the mark.

"The Secretary of State's Office did not agree with every single signature that the plaintiffs have submitted, but certainly most of them were determined to be valid afterward," Lewis said.

The settlement shows there are now 36,153 valid signatures in the state's Second Congressional District, which is over the needed 36,099 signatures.

The Secretary of State's Office said in a statement Friday, "During the initiative petition review process local election authorities were tasked with checking well over 1 million signatures. From their reporting, the secretary of state’s office determined the Osage River Gaming petition was just short of the required signature count for ballot certification. After a challenge by the petitioner it was determined that enough additional signatures could be verified to place the petition on the November ballot."

The attorney for ORGC, Charles Hatfield, thanked the Secretary of State's Office Friday for working with the plaintiffs on this matter.

"Everybody zealously defends their client, but we're also officers of the court and we should minimize disputes when possible, which is what we've done," Hatfield said.

In a statement Friday, the ORGC said, "We are grateful that the Circuit Court and all parties involved today verified that our signature-gathering effort provided more than enough signatures to qualify our amendment for placement on the November ballot. Today is a victory for the initiative petition process and for voters who will benefit from our proposed development at the Lake of the Ozarks."

The group said its proposal for a gambling boat on the Osage River would support 700 permanent jobs and provide $14 million in tax revenue for early childhood literacy projects across the state. It said $2.1 million will also support local government in the Lake Ozark region.

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