Arkansas court orders state to count signatures collected by volunteers for abortion-rights measure
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The Arkansas Supreme Court on Tuesday night ordered the state to begin counting signatures submitted in favor of filing a abortion rights measure on the ballot — but only those collected by volunteers for the proposal’s campaign.
The one-page order from the conservative majority court left uncertainty about the future of the proposed ballot measure. Justices declined to rule on whether a lawsuit challenging the state’s rejection of petitions for the measure should proceed.
The court gave the state until 9 a.m. Monday to conduct an initial count of the volunteers’ signatures.
Election officials said on July 10 that Arkansans for Limited Government, the group behind the measure, had failed to file proper documentation about the signature gatherers it hired.
The group disputed that claim, saying the documents it submitted were in compliance with the law and that more time should have been given to provide any additional documents. Arkansans for Limited Government filed a lawsuit over the rejection, and the state asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the lawsuit.
If they had all been verified, the more than 101,000 signatures submitted by the state’s July 5 deadline would have been enough to qualify for the ballot. The threshold was 90,704 signatures from registered voters and at least 50 counties.
“We are encouraged by this outcome, which honors the constitutional rights of Arkansas residents to participate in direct democracy, the voices of the 101,000 Arkansas voters who signed the petition, and the work of hundreds of volunteers across the state who joined this effort,” the group said in a statement Tuesday night.
A spokesman for Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said his office is reviewing the ruling and will provide further comment on Wednesday.
The state has said that if the signatures collected by paid canvassers are removed, that leaves 87,382 volunteer signatures, nearly 3,000 short of the requirement.
Under the order, three justices on the court, which is majority-conservative, would direct the state to count all submitted signatures and verify their validity.
The proposed amendment, if approved, would not make abortion a constitutional right, but is seen as a test of support for abortion rights in an overwhelmingly Republican state. Arkansas currently bans abortion at any time during pregnancy unless the woman’s life is in danger due to a medical emergency.
The proposed amendment would prohibit laws that abortion in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy and allows the procedure later in cases of rape, incest, threats to the woman’s health or life, or if the fetus is unlikely to survive birth.
Arkansans for Limited Government and election officials disagreed over whether the petitions complied with a 2013 state law that required campaigners to file statements identifying each paid canvasser by name and confirming that the rules for gathering signatures had been explained to them.
Following the 2022 ruling of the US Supreme Court the abolition of the national right to abortionthere has been a push to let voters decide the issue stands for state.