It was reported that a lawsuit has been filed against the secretary of state in Arkansas by an organization. The lawsuit alleges that the secretary of state wrongly denied a petition to include abortion access on the ballot for November.
On Tuesday, the Arkansans for Limited Government organization took legal action by filing a lawsuit against Secretary of State John Thurston in the state supreme court. The main objective of the lawsuit is to overturn Thurston’s decision, which is preventing the ballot question from being included on Election Day.
On July 5, the organization brought in boxes filled with signatures and paperwork to the secretary of state’s office. However, on July 10, they received a letter from Thurston, stating that the paperwork accompanying the signatures was not filed correctly. Thurston referred to a statute that mandates petitioners to include a statement revealing information about any paid canvassers enlisted to gather signatures.
According to Sam Watson, AFLG content director, the signatures submitted were a combination of 87,000 collected by volunteers and 14,000 collected by paid canvassers. The group employed 265 paid canvassers to assist in the signature collection efforts.
Thurston cited the AR Code § 7-9-11 statute, which states that if the petition is deemed insufficient by the secretary of state, the sponsors have a 30-day window to address any problems, including collecting more signatures.
According to AFLG, they have submitted all the necessary paperwork, but even if they hadn’t, Thurston doesn’t have the power to outright reject the petition, as per Watson’s statement.
Watson expressed his frustration stating that if the signatures were counted as per the procedure, AFLG would be given a cure period. He further explained that paperwork is one of the things that can be cured during this period. “That’s why we’re so deeply frustrated,” he added.
Thurston’s office has refrained from commenting on the matter as the litigation is still pending. However, the office did release the letter that was sent to Lauren Cowles, the individual responsible for drafting the referendum, on Monday.
Thurston responded to AFLG’s argument about correctly filing the petition by stating that he received their letter on July 11, 2024, and his position remains unchanged.
On Friday, Nicholas Bronni, the solicitor general of Arkansas, filed a motion to dismiss the case, stating that the petition was correctly rejected by the secretary of state.
According to Bronni, the Secretary’s decision to reject AFLG’s petition was the only possible outcome, given the company’s failure. Furthermore, Bronni pointed out that even if the paid signatures were not invalidated, they still could not be counted for any purpose, including the initial signature count. AFLG’s petition, as per their own admission, fell short of the required number of signatures needed to qualify for a cure period, even with the paid signatures included. Therefore, regardless of the scenario, AFLG’s petition was doomed to failure and any further proceedings would be an exercise in futility.
To initiate a ballot measure in Arkansas, a number of signatures equivalent to 10% of the votes cast for the governor in the previous gubernatorial election are required. The deadline for obtaining 90,704 signatures for this particular case was set for July 5th.
After Thurston rejected the petition, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders didn’t mince words and criticized signees and canvassers, referring to them as “immoral and incompetent.”
According to Watson, the discussion about abortion has evolved into a larger debate about the fundamental right of Arkansans to participate in their government.
AFLG’s Watson expressed optimism that the supreme court would promptly address their case. While waiting for a resolution, the group has requested an injunction mandating Thurston’s office to tally the signatures during the legal process.