A victory in court today for those who want a state wide smoking ban to be decided by a public vote.

Judge Kathleen Trandahl ruled that petitioners do in fact have enough valid signatures to send the issue of smoking in bars, restaurants, and casinos to a vote come next November.

The American Cancer Society may appeal the decision.

The battle over the smoking ban continued inside this courtroom today as each side tried to convince the judge about petition signatures.

The state says many of the 25,400 signatures are invalid but petitioners disagree. It was a numbers game in court today with Judge Trandahl saying the petitioners have 2,244 more signatures than required to put the issue of lighting up to a vote.

Bob Hartford, Director of the South Dakota Music and Vending Association is happy with Judge Trandahl's decision.

"We will have a chance to vote on this issue instead of having the Secretary of State arbitrarely throwing out the chance for voters to vote."

Judge Trandahl says the Secretary of State did a good job of examining the signatures but the court is held to a different standard.

At least 11 notaries who took the stand today made errors, omitting dates or their signatures on petitions, but those notaries testified those mistakes were simply clerical errors.

Supporters of the ban including Jennifer Stalley say those petitions should have been thrown out anyway.

"We applied a higher standard to what notaries should be doing in their capacity with the referendum than Judge Trandahl did and we will take a look at that and decide if it's an appealable issue."

"It's a very important issue. It impacts almost everybody and i think something that major should be decided by the voters, not the legislature," says Hartford.

Voters will get their opportunity next November.