As explained by Benjamin Barr below, a decimal point in a ballot initiative in Arizona can make all the difference in the world.  I know from personal experience that a change in one preposition in a contract can cost thousands.

Of Commas, Periods, and Decimal Points
First Things First meets the rule of law

By Benjamin Barr
November 15, 2006
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First Things First, this fall?s popular tobacco tax, may be up for a challenge. It centers on whether the initiative?s proposed tax on cigarettes is 80 cents a pack, as advertised, or .80 cents a pack as written in the already-voted-on-ballot.

As reported by the Arizona Republic, First Things First supporters claim this is a ?typo? and ?think it is very clear and voters understand and read that it is an 80 cents tax on tobacco.?

Of course, assuming what people think ignores what the ballot actually states. The ballot language for Proposition 203 read .80 cents, not 80 cents. How does the state know whether a voter intended to vote for 80 or .80 cents? My suggestion: read the ballot.

There are no shortages of technicalities in the law. In a recent case in Canada, the validity of a million dollar contract hinged on the correct placement of a comma and the ?rule of the last antecedent.? That brings us to those nasty decimal points.

In Arizona, it?s ?very clear? what supporters of First Things First meant. It?s equally clear what the ballot stated. As a friend of mine often says, ?it is what it is.? The language is plain as day and the court should rule accordingly.

Benjamin Barr is a constitutional policy analyst with the Goldwater Institute Center for Constitutional Studies.