The deadline to turn in measures to be included on the ballot this November was July 5. Three measures submitted enough signatures to pass the first threshold, including an expansion of medical marijuana and a casino-related measure. The third one aimed to legalize some abortions in Arkansas. But a lot has transpired since July 5, and here to try and help us make sense of it all is Josie Lenora, the Politics/Government Reporter for Little Rock Public Radio.
Josie Lenora: Hi, Matthew.
MM: Alright, Josie, so let’s do some table setting here first. Take us to July 5 at the Capitol. What did the process look like to submit the constitutional amendment paperwork?
JL: On the day the signatures were due, there was a lot of fanfare. Supporters of the Arkansas abortion amendment gathered in the Capitol Rotunda. They were cheering and holding signs. For them, it was a really festive day and the marking of the end of months of work. There were a few pro-life counter-protesters, but all in all the day went smoothly.
To cap it off, several Capitol employees wheeled the giant boxes of signatures up the elevators and down the hallways. They took them to Secretary of State John Thurston's office so he could spend the next month counting them. Once they got there, supporters and sponsors sat with the Secretary of State's employees in the old Supreme Court room in the Capitol. According to Arkansas law, they had to submit extra documents to the Secretary of State's office along with the signatures. I was there in the room while they signed forms and submitted other paperwork. One of the extra pieces of paperwork they turned in was a notarized affidavit that they wrote by hand.
MM: On July 10, we officially heard from the Secretary of State’s office that they were rejecting the submission for the Arkansas Abortion Amendment. What did they say?
JL: A lot of these rules are about using paid canvassers. The law says they need to turn in a list of paid canvasser names to the Secretary of State and also turn in evidence that the canvassers had read the handbook. Thurston said those two documents were missing, so he threw out just the signatures from paid canvassers. That's about 14,000. This means Arkansans for Limited Government was under the threshold of signatures needed to get their amendment on the ballot. They needed over 90,000.
This is where it gets tricky. The Arkansas Times did a FOIA request for the extra set of documents the group turned in, and they found two things that fit the descriptions of the documents the Secretary of State said he was missing. They found a list of paid canvasser names turned in on the 5th and a list of 169 cards, each signed by a paid canvasser verifying that they had seen the handbook. So that is almost identical to the description the Secretary of State had in his letter.
What was interesting to me is Attorney General Tim Griffin, in a statement, told me the group was rejected for different reasons. He said they signed the affidavit on the wrong day but everything was notarized on the first by an employee of the Secretary of State's office.
MM: What was the reaction from the sponsors of the group?
JL: They haven't been doing a lot of press interviews, just releasing statements. The moment the Secretary of State's decision was announced, they were suspicious. They have expressed a lot of frustration over the past week about the situation. The term they used in one press release was "outraged." One statement they sent out said, "this is not over."
Meanwhile, pro-life groups and legislators hailed this as a victory. The AG said they had "no one to blame but themselves."
MM: Volunteers collected more than 95% of the signatures needed for this proposed amendment to make it on the ballot. Did you hear at all from people who had volunteered time collecting signatures?
JL: I talked to several. The group was approved to collect signatures in February. We know that Arkansas can have very intense weather snaps. So this meant they spent several long days in the cold asking for signatures. In the summer this is standing out in the hot sun in high heat indexes with clipboards.
On top of that, Arkansas has pretty good pro-life credentials. Some pro-life groups hail Arkansas as the most pro-life state. So the pro-choice group had a big mountain to climb to collect over 90,000 signatures. One pro-life group I talked to did not expect them to be successful.
A lot of outside pro-choice groups were reluctant to fund the amendment. They didn't think the 18-week cutoff went far enough. It's also just hard to collect signatures with volunteers. People have to take off work and be really passionate about the issue. A canvasser I talked to said as her reason for supporting the amendment, "no one is coming to save us."
A separate group called Decline to Sign would saddle up to canvassers in the hope of confusing them about what the abortion amendment does. The few canvassers I talked to at a protest Saturday expressed frustration and disappointment. There are high emotions here.
MM: You reported on Friday that Arkansans for Limited Government may have actually submitted the correct paperwork. Tell us what happened here.
JL: I can't say that for sure. It's possible there is something else wrong with the paperwork or that the fact that the affidavit is handwritten is a problem, but I am not seeing any public official say that. What I can say is that right now, public officials are saying there is paperwork missing which seems identical to the pages the group turned in. I want to leave the door open though in case we learn more information.
MM: Arkansans for Limited Government responded to the Secretary of State on Friday. What did they say?
JL: They wrote a seven-page response where they referenced applicable law and explained how they believe they did not violate it. At one point they said to Thurston, "you must continue counting." They told him it was his duty to keep counting.
MM: Where do things go from here?
JL: They have implied that they plan to file a lawsuit. There was a 30-day window starting on July 5 to count signatures and the Secretary of State's office doesn't have any plans to keep counting them. Meanwhile, if they had counted them and 75% of them had been accurate they would have gotten extra time to collect signatures, so some are collecting more signatures just in case.
UPDATE:
Secretary of State Thurston sent a letter Monday, July 15 responding to Arkansans for Limited Government. He says, "my position remains the same." Today, July 16, Arkansans for Limited Government filed suit against Secretary of State Thurston.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. The authoritative record of KUAF programming is the audio record.
