The Supreme Court of Arkansas has ordered Secretary of State John Thurston to resume counting signatures for a proposed amendment, counting only those signatures collected by volunteers. That measure would let voters decide, on the November 5 election ballot, whether to loosen abortion restrictions in Arkansas. The amendment would allow the procedure up to the 18th week of pregnancy.
As Josie Lenora, with Little Rock Public Radio reports, the Secretary of State’s office issued a letter on July 10, which stated their office had stopped counting the petition signatures because the necessary documents were not filed. The issue involves about 14,000 of the more than 101,000 signatures turned in to the Secretary of State’s Office on July 5. The signatures in question had been collected by paid canvassers, not volunteers. Members of the group Arkansans for Limited Government (AFLG) dispute that claim, insisting they did include the proper paperwork.
Elimination of those roughly 14,000 signatures puts the AFLG below the required number of 90,704. The group filed the lawsuit against Thurston on July 16. Arkansas’ seven member high court ordered an initial count to be completed by 9:00 a.m. on Monday, July 29.
Arkansas law does stipulate that extra signature collection time can be granted if at least 75% of the needed signatures turned in meet requirements. A new law requires voter signatures now from 50 counties, instead of the previous 15 county threshold. On Wednesday, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin released a statement which was pleased with the court order. And he described the paperwork mistake as “a failure for which they (AFLG) only have themselves to blame.”
If approved, the constitutional amendment would stop any laws that would restrict abortion in cases of rape, incest, fatal fetal anomaly or to protect the life or well-being of the mother.
