Arkansas abortion ballot initiative rejected

July 11 (UPI) -- Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston has rejected a petition to put an abortion rights measure on November's ballot over organizers failing to submit all required paperwork.

Arkansans for Limited Government has sought to put an amendment on the general election ballot to enshrine unlimited access to abortion services up to 18 weeks of gestation into the state's Constitution. On deadline Friday, they wheeled banker boxes containing some 100,000 signatures into the Arkansas State Capitol to qualify.

"Delivery day dump," it had said last week in confirmation on Facebook. "Feeling overwhelmed by the energy and excitement from everyone who worked so hard to get this done."

On Wednesday, Thurston, a Republican, said in a letter to the group that its organizers failed to provide a statement identifying paid canvassers by name and another indicating that a copy of the secretary of state's handbook on initiatives and referenda had been provided to each paid canvasser who had the requirements for obtaining signatures explained to them.

"You did not submit any statements meeting this requirement. By contrast, other sponsors of initiative petitions complied with this requirement. Therefore, I must reject your submission," Thorn wrote in the letter.

He continued that even if their failure to submit the documents did not require for their application to be rejected, it would mean that signatures collected by paid canvassers could not be counted, and because of that their application would not meet the required 90,704 signatures.

According to his letter, the group submitted 101,525 signatures, of which 14,143 were collected by paid canvassers. With the reduction, they would have a total 87,382 signatures collected by volunteers, which is 3,222 signatures short.

"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," he said.

Arkansans for Limited Government called the disqualification "ridiculous" and that they provided Thurston's office with a list of their paid canvassers and all required information associated with their employment.

It said in a late Wednesday statement that they worked with his office "during every step of the process" and it was his office that supplied them with the affidavit paperwork they used.

"At multiple junctures -- including on July 5 inside of the Capitol Building -- we discussed signature submission requirements with the secretary of state's staff," it said.

"Until today, we had no reason not to trust that the paperwork they supplied us was correct and complete."

It also accused Thurston of making "an unfounded legal interpretation" of Arkansas law in order to declare its application incomplete.

"More than 101,000 Arkansans participated in this heroic act of direct democracy and stood up to loudly proclaim their support for access to healthcare. They deserve better than a state government that seeks to silence them," it said while vowing to fight the disqualification.

Meanwhile, Arkansas state Sen. Ben Gilmore, a Republican, declared Wednesday "a great day for life in Arkansas."

"The secretary of state's office officially rejected the Arkansas abortion amendment, and it will not appear on the ballot in November," Gilmore said on X.

"Life is the most basic God-given human right and Arkansas will continue to protect the lives of our unborn children."

Since the conservative-leaning Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade in June 2022, repealing federal protections for abortion, there has been a movement to protect access to the medical practice via state-level legislation and constitutional amendments.

This year, up to 11 states may have abortion measures on the ballot, according to the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation , which is focused on healthcare policy.

Pro-abortion organizers in Arizona and Nebraska last week also said they had enough signatures to put a similar abortion measure on their states' November ballots.