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Politics & Government

Nearly 50,000 Anti-Dream Act Signatures Verified

Deadline is next week for putting illegal immigrant in-state tuition law to referendum in 2012.

Opponents of the Maryland Dream Act are closing in on a successful bid to let voters decide if certain illegal immigrants will be eligible for in-state tuition.

The State Board of Elections has certified 47,288 signatures and rejected 10,217 — leaving the petition 8,448 signatures short ahead of its June 30 deadline.

If the petition meets the requirements, the Dream Act will not go into effect and will be put on the ballot in November 2012.

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Dream Act supporters are challenging the validity of more than one-third of the petition’s signatures.

For the first time in state history, a referendum petition has gone online to collect signatures. MDPetitions.com launched days after state lawmakers narrowly passed legislation in April that will allow illegal immigrants who graduated from state high schools to pay in-state rates at Maryland colleges and universities.

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More than one third — 17,092 — of the certified signatures were computer-generated, according to the board of elections.

The state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and Casa de Maryland, the state’s largest immigrant advocacy group, are questioning the online process. A 20-page ACLU letter complained of potential fraud and the "pre-filling of petition pages by the sponsor’s computer," which they say runs afoul of state guidelines.

"Our intention was to work with the state Board of Elections to ensure that they understand our analysis of the petition system — that the petition system violates the state election law and is vulnerable to fraud," said Meredith Curtis, an ACLU spokeswoman. "We had originally hoped before any of the signatures were certified, they’d consider this matter separately. The reality is we have not received a decision or response whatsoever from the state board."

In response, the Board of Elections asked Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler for guidance. Any response will remain confidential, said spokesman David Paulson. However, a "conclusion to the issue" may be made public by the elections board, Paulson said.

Del. Neil Parrott, a Washington County Republican who is helping organize the referendum drive, called the complaints baseless and said that Dream Act opponents will continue to collect signatures online.

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