(NewsReady.com) – Reproductive health advocates around the country have worked to get abortion on the ballot in red states. An organization tried to do it in Arkansas but their efforts were thwarted. Now, the Republican secretary of state is receiving criticism for his decision.
On July 10, Secretary of State John Thurston informed Arkansas for Limited Government that the group didn’t provide a statement identifying their canvassers by name. He said the group also didn’t provide a statement that confirmed every canvasser submitted proper documentation and underwent training about the state law before they started gathering signatures.
The secretary of state claimed 14,143 of the 101,525 signatures were gathered by paid canvassers. The remaining 87,832 signatures collected by volunteers did not meet the 90,704 signatures required for a proposed constitutional amendment.
Thurston said that “other sponsors of initiative petitions complied with [the] requirement” and rejected the submission.
Arkansans for Limited Government issued a statement later that day. The group said it was in active conversations with Thurston’s office, including on July 5, to discuss “signature submission requirements.” They went on to say the secretary’s office gave them the paperwork to submit the petitions and they had no reason to believe anything was wrong. The organization also said it gave a list of paid canvassers to the secretary of state’s office because it was “obtained through a Freedom of Information Act [FOIA] request.”
According to the Arkansas Times, questions are being raised about the secretary’s decision. Thurston’s office reportedly did make an FOIA request and the petition materials were turned over on July 5. The paper reported that there’s a possibility that under the statute cited by the secretary, he is required to initiate the count to verify the signatures and only after doing so, he would be permitted to throw out the petition. This could allow the group to collect more signatures to make up for the time between the count and disqualification period, also known as a “cure period.”
Arkansans for Limited Government said the secretary “unlawfully rejected” the petition and vowed to fight his decision.
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