Petitioners Hit The Streets To Stop Tuition Breaks For Illegal Immigrants

Effort takes volunteers to festivals and beyond

The red-and-white placards outside the Motor Vehicle Administration office in Frederick strike some as an invitation: "Sign petition here. No in-state tuition for illegal immigrants."

One after another, supporters walk up. Over the course of the morning, Carol Geisbert welcomes, among others, a Montgomery County mother of three college-bound teens, a truck driver named Dewey Sayers and a 28-year-old Frederick Community College student wearing a Beastie Boys T-shirt.
Two Carroll County sisters in their 60s practically skip to the table.

All are eager to get their hands on the petition.

"Just tell me where to sign," says one of the sisters, Pat Baumgardner, who whistles as she approaches. "I got better things to use my tax money for."

Over the past two months, volunteers such as Geisbert have fanned out across the state to gather signatures for the petition to give voters the final say on the controversial new law that extends in-state tuition discounts to illegal immigrants.

The Republican-led effort will come to a head next week. If the petitioners can collect 55,736 valid signatures by June 30, implementation of the law would be suspended and the measure would be put on the 2012 ballot.

That appears likely, as the state Board of Elections has certified more than 47,000 names from a preliminary round of submissions last month, and organizers plan to submit many more before the deadline.
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