Arizona anti-voucher referendum on track to ballot

PHOENIX (AP) — State election officials say 97 percent of the more than 111,000 signatures turned in to block Arizona's ambitious school voucher program expansion have passed an initial certification. That's far more than needed to halt the new law until the November 2018 general election.

The review now shifts to Arizona's 15 county recorders. They will check a random 5 percent sample of the 108,224 certified signatures to determine if enough are valid.

Recorders have 15 working days to check about 5,400 signatures and have to validate about 70 percent of them for the law to remain blocked.