The state teachers lobby is working to block a Proposition 13-style measure from the ballot.

The effort by Washoe state senate candidate Sharron Angle to place a Proposition 13-type tax cutting measure on Nevada’s ballot, which has already survived a court challenge, now faces questions about sloppy signature-gathering procedures. The state teachers association late last week sent a letter to Secretary of State Ross Miller calling attention to numerous examples of signature gatherers failing to sign a required affidavit and other cases where an affidavit was filed but was incorrectly done. The problem is not minor or technical. The courts have ruled that where citizen ballot measures change statutes, there needs to be only “substantial compliance” with technical requirements for forms and petitions. But when a measure changes the state constitution—a change not easily remedied—there must be “strict compliance.”

Proposition 13 was a famous 1978 California ballot measure that capped property tax rates and required legislative supermajorities for tax hikes in that state. Nevada voters defeated a similar initiative petition in second round voting in 1980.