LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansans for Limited Government (AFLG), the group behind a proposed abortion amendment, said in a letter on Thursday that they followed Arkansas law and claimed that Secretary of State John Thurston "unlawfully" rejected their submission this week.
"Contrary to your claim, AFLG met the requirements of Ark. Code Ann. § 7-9-111 (f)(2)," the group said in a letter on Thursday. "Additionally, this letter explains that you have unlawfully rejected the petition parts in question."
AFLG's letter comes after Thurston rejected the abortion amendment on Wednesday on a technicality, claiming that the group failed to turn in required documents regarding paid canvassers.
In a letter sent by Secretary of State Thurston on Wednesday, he said that the group failed to submit documents that identified paid canvassers by name as well as a signed statement that they had a copy of the recent edition of the state's initiatives and referenda handbook.
According to Thurston, the group's reported failure to submit these documents is what led to him rejecting the ballot measure.
During his rejection of the abortion amendment, Thurston also claimed that signatures from paid canvassers were invalid due to the group allegedly failing to submit appropriate documentation.
In their letter on Thursday, AFLG responded to those claims, accusing Thurston of failing to "fulfill [his] duty to perform an initial count of all signatures submitted by AFLG."
Additionally, the group states in the letter that they submitted an enclosed Sponsor Affidavit on June 27 that contains the documents that the Secretary of State called into question.
"The Sponsor Affidavit attached a list that identified paid canvassers by name and contained a statement, signed by AFLG, indicating that AFLG provided those paid canvassers with a copy of the most recent edition of the Secretary of State's initiatives and referenda handbook and explained the requirements under Arkansas law for obtaining signatures on an initiative or referendum," AFLG said in their response letter.
The group said that they sent a list of paid canvassers to Thurston's office multiple times over the past months — submitting the list once again on July 5 — to which "[Thurston's] staff explicitly told AFLG [this list] was not required," according to AFLG.
AFLG said that when drafting their paid canvasser affidavits, the group copied exact language of a sample affidavit provided by Thurston's office. Additionally, the group said they provided the materials multiple times "in an abundance of caution, even against [Thurston's] insistence that some of [the] information was not required."
The letter finishes by accusing Thurston's rejection of defying the statute and also claims that his initial letter failed to "specify in what manner AFLG failed to comply with the plain language of the statute," which they said has forced the group to guess at the Secretary of State's reasoning.
Lastly the group states that despite Thurston's "erroneous position" that the paid canvasser petition parts of the submission should be disqualified, it's Thurston's "duty to count every signature on every other petition part."
"For the reasons detailed above, please confirm as soon as possible, and no later than Monday, July 15, that the submission of the initiative petition facially contains the required number of signatures and that your office is proceeding to verify all of the submitted signatures, including those contained on petition parts from paid canvassers," AFLG said in the letter.
In a statement, the Secretary of State's office said it reaffirms the letter it sent on July 10 and that the "contents of the letter continue to reflect our stance on the matter that the sponsor failed to comply with statutory requirements in accordance with A.C.A. 7-9-111 (f)(2)."
You can read AFLG's complete response by clicking here.
We will update this article as more information becomes available.