PHOENIX — A 2017 law making it a crime to pay petition circulators on a per-signature basis is legal, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
In a unanimous decision, the justices rejected arguments the statute, approved by Republican lawmakers, interferes with the First Amendment rights of Arizonans to collect signatures to put measures on the ballot to propose their own laws and constitutional amendments. The justices accepted arguments by the Attorney General’s Office, which defended the law, that paying people based on how many signatures they turn in may be susceptible to abuse.
But the high court’s ruling is limited.
