Abortion ballot group alleges bait and switch by Arkansas secretary of state

• The delay has prevented the initiative's backer, Arkansans for Limited Government (AFLG), from collecting more signatures if needed and from mounting a voter-awareness campaign if the issue makes the ballot.

State of play: AFLG's brief says it complied with the law when it submitted paperwork regarding paid canvassers — and that if it didn't, it's owed time to correct it.

• It also claims that, during the petition process, AFLG members communicated with the office of Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston and were told they'd met all the requirements.
• AFLG says Thurston's actions in its case are different from previous similar issues and that he's discriminating against the petition because of his personal beliefs.
• "The only logical conclusion from these facts — many of which are undisputed — is that the secretary's office pulled a bait and switch on petitioners," the brief reads.

The other side: The brief filed on behalf of Thurston's office claims the state Supreme Court has no jurisdiction to hear the case because the secretary hasn't yet made a "sufficiency determination" on the signatures.

• If the jurisdiction argument is overlooked, the brief argues still that AFLG didn't have the proper paperwork in place and that Allison Clark, who signed affidavits related to paid canvassers, could not be considered a "sponsor" because she also was a paid canvasser.
• Clark is controller of Verified Arkansas, the company AFLG hired to help collect signatures.

Context: The proposed amendment would allow abortion through the first 18 weeks of pregnancy and in cases of rape, incest, fatal fetal anomaly or to save the pregnant person's life.

How we got here

Catch up quick: Arkansans for Limited Government submitted more than 100,000 signatures to Thurston on July 5.

• He rejected them on July 10 and stopped counting, claiming the group lacked proper paperwork regarding paid canvassers used to collect roughly 14,000 of the signatures.
• The group filed a complaint in the state Supreme Court, which ordered Thurston to continue counting the signatures while it ruled on the case.
• Thurston later said the paperwork had in fact been submitted, but claimed AFLG didn't supply all required documentation.

The big picture: Though the state's not likely to swing blue in November, Arkansas is a key battleground for both sides of the abortion issue nationally.

• Groups backing ballot initiatives in other states — Planned Parenthood and the ACLU — declined to support the Natural State initiative because its proposal is to allow abortion for fewer than the 22-24 weeks that was standard under Roe v. Wade.
• So, Arkansas' effort is largely grassroots, showing there's more than a modicum of support for a change in its abortion law.

In the year following the Dobbs decision that triggered the state's effective ban, 13 other states also banned most abortions.

• But many have moved to protect abortion rights in some way, including Kansas and Ohio.
• Even in deep-red Utah, the state Supreme Court recently upheld a temporary injunction blocking its ban from going into effect.
• The issue could be on the November ballot in 10 other states.

Between the lines: Tens of millions of dollars are fueling ads to push abortion-rights measures expected to be on the ballot in Arizona, Nevada and Montana because they could determine the next president and control of the Senate.

What's next: Both sides have until August 9 to respond to each other's briefs.

The bottom line: Just over three months remain until the general election.

Go deeper:

• Arkansas abortion amendment disqualified from ballot
• Arkansas group says abortion amendment was unlawfully disqualified from November ballot
• Arkansas group sues secretary of state over abortion amendment rejection
• Arkansas secretary of state completes signature count for abortion amendment