A citizen-led effort to put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot to restore abortion rights in Arkansas has been rejected by Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston over an alleged failure to submit an affidavit regarding canvassers who were paid to gather signatures.
Thurston, a Republican, said in a letter Wednesday that the group behind the proposed amendment, Arkansans for Limited Government, did not submit a statement that identified paid canvassers by name and affirmed that canvassers had been notified of the state’s laws and rules regarding signature collection. In a 2015 case, the state Supreme Court “expressly found this requirement to be constitutional,” Thurston wrote.
Thurston said that the lack of such an affidavit required him to reject the submission outright. Even if that were not the case, he wrote, “it would certainly mean that signatures gathered by paid canvassers in your submission could not be counted for any reason.”
Thurston said an affidavit submitted by Arkansans for Limited Government attested that the group had collected 87,382 signatures from volunteers and 14,143 from paid canvassers. The number collected by volunteers would fall short of the 90,704 threshold required to make the ballot under state law, he said.
“Therefore, even if I could accept your submission, I would be forced to find that your petition is insufficient on its face for failure to obtain the required 90,704 signatures,” Thurston wrote.
A spokesperson for Arkansans for Limited Government said the group was reviewing the secretary of state’s letter and would have a statement shortly.
Organizers with Arkansans for Limited Government, along with several other groups hoping to place ballot measures before voters in November, submitted their signatures to the secretary of state’s office on Friday, July 5.
Here’s the full letter:
This is a developing story and will be updated.