Supporters of abortion ballot question gains new allies

(The Center Square) - A group fighting to get an abortion question on the November ballot gained some allies as the battle continues in the Arkansas Supreme Court.

Last month, a court ordered Secretary of State John Thurston to conduct an initial count of signatures collected by volunteer canvassers for Arkansans for Limited Government. The group had 87,675, according to previous reports. With 14,143 additional signatures collected by paid canvassers, the group had a total of 102,730 signatures. That doesn’t include 912 other signatures that were under question for whether the canvasser was volunteer or paid.

Thurston counted the signatures but said more than 14,000 were invalid and that AFLG didn’t comply with a legal requirement to provide a copy of the Secretary’s initiatives and handbook to paid canvassers and explain to paid canvassers the legal requirements for obtaining signatures.

He also said the group failed to submit a statement signed by the sponsor with its petition “indicating that the sponsor gave the required information and documentation to each paid canvasser.”

AFLG argues Thurston told another group, Arkansas for Patient Access, that identical paperwork errors were not disqualifying, which they believe sheds light on a double standard.

“It is crystal clear that Secretary Thurston’s concern is not about procedure but the substance of the initiative,” AFLG said in a statement. “He is determined to keep the initiative off the ballot, regardless of the facts or law. His rejection of the initiative to advance his personal and political agenda is antithetical to his duties as a public servant. We’re furious, and Arkansans should be, too.”

Local Voters in Charge, which sponsored a ballot amendment to give county voters a decision on the location of casinos and Arkansas for Patient Access, the sponsor of a ballot amendment to improve medical marijuana access, filed motions to intervene and support AFLG on the question of whether a sponsor can appoint an agent to fulfill its statutory duties, according to court records.

AFLG said in court filings that it did not oppose the motion to intervene, given that it believed it confirmed its argument.

Meanwhile, the attorney general said in a filing the court should deny the intervention, calling the motion a “thirteenth hour” intervention to argue about the meaning of a different statute not applicable to the case.

If approved for the ballot and by voters, AFLG's proposed amendment would allow abortion up to 18 weeks of pregnancy. Current state law bans abortion except for cases where the mother’s life is in danger.