Committee for a Healthy Future v. Carnahan
Committee for a Healthy Future v. Carnahan was a signature recovery lawsuit filed in 2006 in Missouri by the plaintiff, Committee for a Healthy Future against Robin Carnahan in her position as Missouri Secretary of State.
The plaintiff had collected signatures on an initiative petition proposing that the Missouri Constitution be amended to increase the tax on tobacco products. The committee filed the signed initiative petition with Carnahan's office, who rejected it after determining that it fell short 274 signatures short of the state's distribution requirement in the Fifth Congressional District. Carnahan's office also said that the petition violated the state's single-subject rule.
Before trial, the Kansas City Board of Election Commissioners re-examined the signatures and identified 263 valid signatures that had not been included in the board’s original court. At trial, the committee presented evidence of more than 1,000 signatures from the Fifth Congressional District that had not been counted. The circuit court ordered the secretary of state to place the proposed amendment on the November 2006 ballot and the Missouri Supreme Court affirmed the decision.
The initiative at issue was Missouri Healthy Future Trust Fund Act, Amendment 3 (2006), which ultimately failed, receiving 48.6% of the vote.
