The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a constitutional amendment endorsing abortion will not go on a ballot in November because organizers decided that complying with the law would simply be too much trouble. proposed amendment would legalize abortion on babies up to 18 weeks for any purpose and up to birth, for a long list of reasons so vague as to allow for unrestricted abortion.
The amendment’s sponsor, an AstroTurfing-powered, biased pro-abortion group called Arkansans for Limited Government, violated state law by using illegally paid poll workers to collect signatures. July 5The organization reportedly submitted over 101,000 signatures from 53 counties, exceeding the legal requirement of 90,704 signatures from 50 counties to put the amendment on the ballot.
When Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston reviewed the petitions, he found that Arkansas for Limited Government had failed to comply with the law by using paid poll workers and ignoring the requirement to provide them with training and to certify that training. As a result, rejected the proposed amendment.
The group that submitted the petitions on Friday no affidavit was submitted in which the paid advertisers were named, as required by state lawThurston wrote in a letter Wednesday to Lauren Cowles, executive director of Arkansas for Limited Government, the voting committee that supports the proposed constitutional amendment.
State law also requires election boards to provide “each paid poll worker with a copy of the most recent edition of the Secretary of State’s Manual of Initiatives and Referendums” and to explain to poll workers the legal requirements for collecting signatures before canvassing begins.
AFLG failed to meet these requirements, while sponsors of other proposed ballot measures did so, Thurston wrote.
The AFLG appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court, which granted a tell of signatures. This recount confirmed 87,675 signatures as legitimate and Thurston’s decision was upheld. The AFLG went to court again, claiming, among other things, that Thurston had discriminated against against the amendment.
AFLG argued that Thurston’s motivation for opposing the proposed abortion amendment was ideological. Arkansas Right to Life, an anti-abortion group that publicly opposed the amendment, supported Thurston’s 2022 re-election campaignand Thurston donated $315.75 to the organization on Jan. 4, according to campaign finance documents included in the letter.
Thurston was among the elected Republicans who participated in the March for Life, the group’s annual anti-abortion rally, on the grounds of the State Capitol in delayed January.
“The Secretary’s position is clear. He does not want the amendment to be voted on,” the petitioners wrote in the 118-page brief. “In doing so, he furthers his personal beliefs and political interests that are anti-abortion. … This discriminatory view violates the petitioners’ First Amendment rights and harms the integrity of the referendum process.”
Today’s ruling seems to Problem to rest for this election cycle.
“We hold that the Secretary properly refused to count the signatures collected by paid poll workers because the sponsor failed to submit the training certificate for paid poll workers,” the majority wrote.
Don’t worry, they will come back.
This is the fresh strategy of pro-lifers. Having lost the battle to create a U.S. constitutional right out of lean air, they are now working to enshrine the right to infanticide in state constitutions. In November, nine more states with pro-abortion amendments are on the ballot: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, New York, Nevada and South Dakota. An abortion amendment has been added to the pro-abortion amendment. Constitution of Ohio in 2023.
