With Clock Ticking, Campaign Finance Measure Remains in Legal Limbo

WLRN Public Media | By Rowan Moore Gerety

Published September 13, 2016 at 4:52 PM EDT

More than 127,000 petitions in favor of a ballot initiative on campaign finance reform were delivered to the Board of Elections in August

With just a few days left before ballots for November’s election have to be finalized and printed, aninitiative to curb the influence of wealthy donors on local politics is still tied up in court, and staff at the Board of Elections are bracing for work around the clock.

The initiative spearheaded by a group called An Accountable Miami-Dade would ban campaign contributions by people who receive county contracts worth more than $250,000 a year. Last week, a judge ordered the county to put the initiative on the ballot while county attorneys continued to raise questions over the initiative’s language.Then, they appealed.

The Board of Elections, meanwhile, has until Sept. 24 to mail absentee ballots to voters overseas. Before that, the ballots have to be finalized in English, translated and vetted in Spanish and Haitian Creole, and tested on voting machines.

For the time being, officials at the board of elections say they’re playing the waiting game, and that the legal dispute has created a domino effect for other steps in finalizing the ballot. Even so, they’re adamant it will get done, even if it means working through the night.