LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — It's an election year and soon voters in Arkansas will begin seeing canvassers working to get a variety of issues on the ballot for November.
Advocacy groups have been collecting signatures to amend the state constitution and change laws, including major issues from education to abortion.
However, that's just a part of the process.
Advocacy group 'For AR People' has been preparing to canvas the state for their ballot petition. The group aims to put abortion access in Arkansas to a vote.
"We really can't think of a more urgent or pertinent issue than this one," said Gennie Diaz, Executive Director of For AR People. "We have internal polling that shows that 61% of our Arkansans agree that it's not the business of the government to be involved in our internal health care decisions."
If approved, the ballot petition would amend the state constitution changing abortion access from a near ban to 18 weeks with certain exceptions for rape, incest, and health concerns.
Last week the attorney general approved the proposal's wording.
"My personal views on abortion, or any other issue is those views are not to be considered. We are applying for a legal review, to either certify or not," said Attorney General Tim Griffin.
Once the Attorney General says that a proposal is straightforward enough for voters, the advocacy groups then have to get a lot of signatures.
They must collect around 50,000 to 90,000 signatures from at least 50 counties depending on the type of law.
Then, the Secretary of State has to verify that every signature is a registered voter and meets the requirements
That's when it makes it on the ballot.
"We're saying, there is an option to change that. You have the power to change it through this process. So let's do that," Diaz explained.
Measures like this can still fail, and groups like Arkansas Right to Life have been pushing against the petition.
However, in the end, it's up to Arkansans.
"You're not driving to get you a chicken sandwich, you are changing the law, that's 3.3 million Arkansans [that] have to live under," Tim Griffin added.
AR People expects to start canvassing in the coming weeks.
All these campaigns have until July 5 to collect the signatures and turn them in to the Secretary of State. This would follow several other states across the country.