TALLAHASSEE - Backers of a high-speed rail project required by a 2000 constitutional amendment asked a judge Wednesday to throw out thousands of petition signatures collected by a group that wants the project killed.
The bullet train's opponents have turned in thousands of invalid petitions in an effort to get the repeal measure on the November ballot, backers claim in a lawsuit.
They say the petition forms don't include the names and addresses of their paid circulators, which they contend is required by state law.
A group called Derail the Bullet Train, led by Florida Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, is trying to get the measure on the ballot, saying the train will cost too much. Gov. Jeb Bush backs the repeal effort.
Election officials have verified nearly 55,000 signatures submitted by Derail the Bullet Train, more than 10 percent of the 488,722 needed to make the ballot.
C.C. "Doc" Dockery, who spent $3-million getting the bullet train proposal on the 2000 ballot, filed the lawsuit in Leon Circuit Court.
The lawsuit contends legislation passed in 1997 requires signature gatherers' names to be on the petitions. But parts of the new law were subject to passage of a proposed constitutional amendment in 1998, and it didn't pass. That leaves open to interpretation whether the name requirement is part of the law.
Division of Elections rules on petitions say nothing about needing signature gatherers' names.
The suit names as a defendant Secretary of State Glenda Hood, who must approve the bullet train repeal measure for the ballot after local supervisors verify that enough signatures are valid.
Mark Mills, a spokesman for Derail the Bullet Train, said the group's lawyers are confident the petition meets legal requirements.
"This is a frivolous lawsuit without merit intended to slow our momentum," Mills said.
