An abortion rights amendment will not be on the ballot in Arkansas this fall, after the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of state officials that organizers failed to submit the required paperwork, making the measure ineligible.
The 4-3 ruling Thursday means a long-shot bid by Arkansans for Limited Government (AFLG) to put abortion on the ballot in the ruby red state will fall short.
The measure did not go as far as in other states because organizers wanted to appeal to the more conservative voters in Arkansas. But as a result, leading national groups that back other measures did not support Arkansas’ initiative.
Organizers last month announced they had submitted more than 101,000 signatures in favor of the ballot initiative, well above the 90,704 needed for placing the amendment to the state constitution on the ballot.
But Secretary of State John Thurston (R) subsequently disqualified the signatures over what he said was essentially a paperwork error related to paid canvassers. Thurston said the group did not submit a sworn statement confirming that the paid canvassers had been instructed on how to collect signatures.
As a result, the court found the initiative collected only 87,675 signatures, which was not enough for the measure to move forward.
Posted by John3262005
1 Comment
> “We find that the Secretary correctly refused to count the signatures collected by paid canvassers because the sponsor failed to file the paid canvasser training certification,” the court said.
Now that is some bureaucratic nonsense