ARKANSAS (AP) -- The Arkansas Supreme Court says thousands of signatures submitted in favor of holding a referendum on a new eye surgery law must be counted.
The justices ruled Thursday that new ballot measure restrictions were incorrectly applied when election officials rejected the petitions submitted by opponents of the law that allows optometrists to perform several procedures that only ophthalmologists had been allowed to perform.
The eye surgery law has drawn heavy opposition from ophthalmologists who say the change puts patients at risk.