Arkansas abortion amendment disqualified from ballot
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John Thurston. Photo: Courtesy of Arkansas Secretary of State's office
Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston on Wednesday rejected petitions for a proposed amendment to make abortion legal in the state again under certain circumstances.
Why it matters: The proposed amendment would allow abortion through the first 18 weeks of pregnancy, and also in cases of rape, incest, fatal fetal anomaly or to save the pregnant person's life.
State of play: In a letter to Arkansans for Limited Government, which is spearheading the effort, Thurston said the group failed to submit a statement identifying all paid canvassers by name.
- He said it also didn't provide a statement confirming it had provided each canvasser with proper documentation and training about the state's law before they started gathering signatures.
"By contrast, other sponsors of initiative petitions complied with this requirement. Therefore I must reject your submission," Thurston wrote.
Between the lines: "Even if your failure to comply with [the law] did not require me to reject your submission outright, it would certainly mean that signatures gathered by paid canvassers in your submission could not be counted for any reason," the letter reads.
- Thurston claims 14,143 of the 101,525 submitted signatures were collected by paid canvassers.
- The remaining 87,382 signatures collected by volunteers fall short of the required 90,704 for a proposed constitutional amendment.
What they're saying: "At multiple junctures — including on July 5 inside of the Capitol Building — we discussed signature submission requirements with the Secretary of State's staff," Arkansans for Limited Government (AFLG) said in a statement emailed late Wednesday.
- The secretary of state's office supplied the organization with all paperwork to submit the petitions, AFLG said, adding that the group had no reason to suspect it was incomplete.
AFLG says it supplied a list of paid canvassers to the state, and that's known because it was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request to the Secretary of State's office and "released by our opposition in an attempt to intimidate our supporters."
- "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."
The other side: "Today the far left pro-abortion crowd in Arkansas showed they are both immoral and incompetent," Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders posted on X.
What we're watching: It's unclear what legal recourse Arkansans for Limited Government can take; however its statement concluded: "We will fight this ridiculous disqualification attempt with everything we have. We will not back down."
Editor's note: This story has been updated throughout with comments from Arkansans for Limited Government.