On Wednesday, Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston said his office is rejecting the petitions submitted by a group looking to add an abortion rights amendment to the state constitution. This comes after the group, Arkansans for Limited Government (AFLG), announced they had secured more than 100,000 petition signatures from 54 counties trying to get the amendment before voters in November.Thurston 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.
“Today the far left pro-abortion crowd in Arkansas showed they are both immoral and incompetent,” Governor Sanders said in a statement. Attorney General Tim Griffin also spoke to the legal requirements that led to the rejection. “As I have long said, changing the Arkansas Constitution involves a rigorous process, as it should, and it requires sponsors to adhere to all applicable laws and rules,” Attorney General Griffin said. “In this instance, the sponsors failed to follow the law, specifically a simple and straightforward affidavit requirement that other ballot committees followed.”
Arkansas Senate Minority Leader Senator Greg Leding (R-Fayetteville) had a different opinion on the matter. “If the Arkansas Abortion Amendment in fact fails to make the ballot this November, remember that more than 100,000 Arkansans from all across our state signed their names in support of restoring access to abortion in Arkansas,” Leding said. “Republicans cheering today’s news aren’t joyful because the Arkansas Abortion Amendment failed to find support, or because voters rejected it; they’re cheering a technicality that might keep their total ban on abortion in place just a little longer.”
AFLG released a statement on their Facebook page following the news of the petition rejection:
“Arkansans for Limited Government is alarmed and outraged by Secretary Thurston’s attempt to disqualify the Arkansas Abortion Amendment from November’s ballot.
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. 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.
The Secretary of State, and the public, knows that we provided the state with a list of our paid canvassers and all of the required information associated with their employment. They know this because the list we provided to the Secretary of State was FOIA’d and released by our opposition in an attempt to intimidate our supporters. Asserting now that we didn’t provide required documentation regarding paid canvassers is absurd and demonstrably, undeniably incorrect.
Arkansas law does not empower the Secretary of State to make an unfounded legal interpretation, which is what he did today by summarily declaring that we have not completed the steps for qualification. We are owed a period to provide a hard copy of the statement, which has been emailed to their office more than a dozen times, if that is what’s needed.
More than 101,000 Arkansans participated in this heroic act of direct democracy and stood up to loudly proclaim their support for access to healthcare. They deserve better than a state government that seeks to silence them.
We will fight this ridiculous disqualification attempt with everything we have. We will not back down.”
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