Arkansas Secretary of State rejects abortion amendment ballot petitions
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston said Wednesday that his office is rejecting the petitions submitted by a group looking to add an abortion rights amendment to the state constitution.
Officials with the secretary of state’s office said there was a technicality regarding canvassers that led to the submissions being disqualified.
From @AGTimGriffin:
“… the sponsors failed to follow the law, specifically a simple and straightforward affidavit requirement that other ballot committees followed. Failure to follow such a basic requirement is inexcusable: the abortion advocates have no one to blame but… https://t.co/KEXfFvjJ0Q— Samantha Boyd (@samanthaboyd98) July 10, 2024
On Friday, the group Arkansans for Limited Government announced that they had secured more than 100,000 petition signatures from 54 counties for the ballot initiative trying to get the amendment before voters in November.
Organizers behind Arkansas abortion amendment submit petition signatures
In a letter sent by Thurston to Arkansans for Limited Government, the secretary said the group had failed to submit a statement identifying paid canvassers by name and a signed statement noting that they had given paid canvassers documents outlining rules before they started gathering signatures.
These requirements became part of Arkansas law in 2013. The law was overturned by a circuit judge in 2014 before mostly being restored later that year by the Arkansas Supreme Court.
Because of these issues, Thurston said the signatures his office saw as valid dropped by 14,143, pushing the total submitted below the necessary threshold of 90,704.
I’ve also confirmed there’s no “cure period” for the group to fix the error. I’ve gotten some questions about a 30 day cure period that’s applied in other situations but SOS office says under these circumstances, there’s no going back and fixing now. @KARK4News @FOX16News… https://t.co/Dj7MUBaOVC
— Samantha Boyd (@samanthaboyd98) July 10, 2024
In a statement posted to social media, Arkansans for Limited Government said the group was still having internal discussions on how to move forward but added that they wanted supporters to “not forget that 101,525 Arkansas voters made their will known.”
“It’s clear voters think Arkansas’ abortion ban is too extreme, and the signature count continues to reflect that,” the group posted.
Later Wednesday evening, Arkansans for Limited Government shared an additional statement, saying that they had followed all instructions from the Secretary of State’s office.
“We worked with the Secretary of State’s office during every step of the process to ensure that we followed all rules and regulations. At multiple junctures — including on July 5 inside of the Capitol Building — we discussed signature submission requirements with the Secretary of State’s staff,” the statement read in part. “ In fact, the Secretary of State’s office supplied us with the affidavit paperwork, which we used. Until today, we had no reason not to trust that the paperwork they supplied us was correct and complete. “
Proposed Arkansas constitutional amendment would expand abortion access
The proposed amendment looked to enshrine abortion access in the state constitution and would stop any laws from being passed to restrict abortion in cases of rape, incest, fatal fetal anomaly or to protect the life or well-being of the mother within the first 18 weeks after conception.
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