A panel of three judges in Anne Arundel County has ordered the state elections board to slightly change the ballot question on the slots constitutional amendment to specify that the gaming proceeds will go for the “primary” purpose of raising money for schools.
The judges said the failure to include the word “primary” was “misleading,” but they rejected all the other arguments challenging the ballot questions.
Opponents of slots plan to appeal the decision.
Two groups opposing the slot machine referendum – Stop Slots MD 2008 and NOCasiNO Maryland — filed the lawsuit two weeks ago challenging the ballot language drafted by Secretary of State John McDonough.
The groups complained that the ballot language describing the constitutional amendment mentions only the Education Trust Fund as the purpose for allowing 15,000 slot machines that could operate at five locations, and fails to mention the other beneficiaries of the slots money. Besides the 87 percent of the wagered money that will go back to players as winnings, the slots operators, the racing industry, local jurisdictions, the state lottery administration and a minority business fund all get a slice of the pie.
Irwin Kramer, attorney for the anti-slots group, began the two-hour hearing in Annapolis by unwrapping a gift box for the judges that included lottery tickets, envelopes for the other beneficiaries, and miniature horse figurines. Kramer mocked the ballot question as “a label that does not list the ingredients.”
“You don’t know what you’re getting when you pull the lever on a slot machine,” Kramer said, but when voters pull the lever, they should know what they’re getting.
Assistant Attorney General Austin Schlick defended the language, saying that the funding of school aid is the only purpose mentioned in the amendment. The other allocations – over half the money — is spelled out in accompanying legislation.
Kramer said lawmakers purposely mislead voters by most of the details about slot proceeds in companion legislation that is not on the ballot.
The legislature put the constitutional amendment on the ballot during the special session last year to let the voters make the decision on slots. Under Maryland law, citizens may not normally vote on revenue measures, such as the slot machines plan.
Kramer lost an earlier lawsuit filed by Republican legislators claiming that all the legislation during the special session was unconstitutional, including the placing of the slots amendment on the ballot.
Two of the three judges repeatedly focused on the failure of the ballot language to say that school funding was the “primary” purpose of the amendment.
“I personally think the word primary is really at the heart of the ballot question,” said Judge Philip Caroom.
The decision was signed by Judges Caroom, Ronald Silkworth and William Munford.
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