Three Maryland public interest groups have filed a lawsuit to block a 2012 voter referendum that would repeal the state's DREAM Act, which allows some undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition.

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Almost immediately after the bill was signed, opponents began a petition drive and submitted the necessary signatures in July. Casa de Maryland, the Hispanic advocacy group filing the suit, alleges that...

more than 50,000 of the signatures turned in by petition sponsors and found valid by the Board [of Elections] were actually invalid under Maryland law. The majority of those invalid signatures were purportedly of voters whose information was not filled out by the voter herself, as required by law, but was instead filled out by a computer program operated by the petition sponsors — a violation of Maryland law. Several thousand additional signatures appeared on petition forms that did not contain either a summary of the text of the law — another plain violation of Maryland law that indicates the voters had no way of knowing what they were actually signing. Tens of thousands of other signatures that were counted as valid violated other clear requirements of the Maryland election law.

It's safe to assume that the referendum will be mired in court maneuverings for a while now.

[via Patch]