ACLU Hoping Appeal Brings Change

On Friday, Oklahoma's branch of the American Civil Liberties Union filed a protest appealing for the Supreme Court to step in.

News On 6 anchor Latoya Silmon reports they set out to get you to sign up.  But many voters say they had no idea what they were signing up for.

"Is it fair for a person to sign without knowing truly what this initiative petition does?" said Rep. Jabar Shumate.

Representative Shumate says the petition wants to put an end to Affirmative Action.  He's teamed up with a group of community and state leaders along with the American Civil Liberties Union to stop the petition.

They say Ward Connerly is behind it and California's push to end affirmative action.  They say the petition's very name; The Oklahoma Civil Rights Initiative is deceptive.

Then there are the signatures themselves.  There are more than 141,000 of them.

In a letter to the court, Secretary of State Susan Savage wrote the signature count "has resulted in an unprecedented situation where large numbers of duplicate names and addresses were discovered."

And Savage says it's possible not all of the duplicates were found.

"There was voter fraud from start to finish," said Shanta Driver, BAMN Attorney.

Now the ACLU must prove it to the state Supreme Court.  They say the protest filed Friday is a start.

The ACLU says Oklahoma is one of five states being targeted and they've been fighting the petition since last September.  Now that the petition has been challenged there will be a hearing on it.  The date has not been set.

Meanwhile, another group of Tulsans are working with two Michigan lawyers to stop the petition. 

They plan to file their protest next week.