ARKANSAS, USA — The Arkansas Supreme Court ordered Secretary of State John Thurston to perform the initial count of signatures collected by volunteer canvassers for the Arkansas Abortion Amendment on July 23.
According to the court order, the Secretary of State’s Office has until 9 a.m. Monday, July 29, to count the votes by the volunteer organizers.
"It’s a win for the more than 800 volunteers that were collecting signatures and whose efforts should be acknowledged," Rebecca BobRow, director of strategy for Arkansans for Limited Government (AFLG), said. "It’s a win for the 101,000 Arkansas voters, who signed the petition and wanted their voice to be heard."
The court’s decision comes after the Secretary of State rejected AFLG’s petition, citing a lack of paperwork regarding signatures gathered by the group’s paid volunteers.
Thurston rejected the abortion ballot initiative on July 10, saying the group did not submit documents identifying paid canvassers by name as well as a signed statement indicating that the group had a copy of the recent edition of the state’s initiatives and referenda handbook.
AFLG said they hold the position that they followed the law.
"The secretary of state, up until now, had not counted the volunteer signatures because he said that something going wrong with the paid signatures made it a moot point," Bobrow said. "This is saying, 'No, that's not right.' You also need to provide us with the volunteer signature count so that we have a full count of all the signatures that were turned in. "
Thurston's office provided the following statement to 5NEWS:
"The Secretary of State's Office has seen the Arkansas Supreme Court's order and will comply with that directive."
While some groups celebrated the ruling on July 23, others did not.
"Amending the Constitution is not a trivial matter," Executive Director for the Family Council Action Committee Jerry Cox said. "It is a highly technical legal endeavor that involves following a number of laws that are put forth here in Arkansas to ensure the integrity of the process."
Cox, whose Conservative organization has been helping campaign against the Arkansas Abortion Amendment, said that he thinks even after the count, the initiative will still not meet the 90,704 signature threshold required to get it on the November ballot.
"I don't think this is a significant move because, in fact, it will give us greater clarity about exactly how many signatures the supporters of the abortion amendment have," Cox said. "The secretary of state indicated early on that they didn't have enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, even if they had not messed up with some of their other paperwork."
Bobrow said while Tuesday’s decision is good news for her group’s cause, the work continues.
"It's a bit of a holding pattern, however, we do have some volunteers who are continuing to collect signatures," Bobrow said. "We understand that signatures collected now can count towards a cure period that we might be granted, so that would not be in vain if we were to be granted a cure period."
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