LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — On Thursday, the Arkansas Supreme Court upheld the state’s decision to reject signature petitions for an abortion rights ballot initiative, preventing the proposal from being placed before voters in November.
This ruling was a significant setback for the organizers who had submitted the petitions in hopes of securing a place on the ballot for a constitutional amendment in a predominantly Republican state, where many top leaders are openly opposed to abortion.
According to election officials, the group behind the initiative, Arkansans for Limited Government, failed to properly submit documentation related to the signature gatherers it had hired. The group disagreed with this claim, arguing that it should have been given additional time to provide any necessary documents.
In a 4-3 decision, the court stated, “We find that the Secretary correctly refused to count the signatures collected by paid canvassers because the sponsor failed to file the paid canvasser training certification.”
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to remove the nationwide right to abortion, there has been a growing movement to have voters decide the issue at the state level.
Currently, Arkansas bans abortion at any point during pregnancy, except when the woman’s life is at risk due to a medical emergency.
The proposed amendment would have prevented laws banning abortion within the first 20 weeks of gestation and would have permitted the procedure beyond that period in cases of rape, incest, threats to the woman’s health or life, or when the fetus is unlikely to survive birth. However, the amendment would not have established a constitutional right to abortion.
The ballot proposal did not receive backing from national abortion rights organizations like Planned Parenthood, as it would have still allowed abortion to be banned after 20 weeks, which is earlier than in other states where it remains legal.
If all the signatures had been verified, the more than 101,000 submitted by the state’s July 5 deadline would have been sufficient to qualify for the ballot. The requirement was 90,704 signatures from registered voters across a minimum of 50 counties.
In a previous court filing, election officials noted that 87,675 of the signatures were collected by volunteers with the campaign. They also stated that they could not determine whether 912 of the signatures were gathered by volunteers or paid canvassers.
Arkansans for Limited Government and election officials disagreed on whether the petitions adhered to a 2013 state law requiring campaigns to submit statements identifying each paid canvasser by name and confirming that they were informed of the rules for gathering signatures.
Supporters of the measure argued that they had complied with the law, providing documentation including affidavits identifying each paid gatherer. They also claimed that the abortion petitions were being treated differently than other initiative campaigns this year, citing similar filings by two other groups.
State records indicate that the abortion campaign did submit a signed affidavit on June 27, listing paid canvassers and confirming that petition rules were explained to them. Additionally, the July 5 submission included affidavits from each paid worker acknowledging that they were provided with all required rules and regulations by the group.
However, the state contended in court that this documentation was non-compliant because it was not signed by a representative of the canvassing company, rather than by the initiative campaign itself. The state also argued that the statement needed to be submitted alongside the petitions.
