LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A new court document submitted by an Arkansas official in the fight over a proposed amendment to expand abortion access in the state said volunteer canvassers collected 87,675 signatures.
This comes two days after the Arkansas Supreme Court ordered the state to count signatures collected by Arkansans for Limited Government (AFLG). State officials were given until 9 a.m. on Monday to perform the count, but turned in an affidavit on Thursday.
Although the group behind the petition turned in over 101,000 signatures on July 5 deadline, Secretary of State John Thurston threw out the submission because he said AFLG did not properly provide documents regarding paid canvassers.
The order from the state's Supreme Court asked for an initial count of signatures collected by only volunteers with more rulings in the lawsuit to be decided later.
In an affidavit from Leslie Bellamy, the Director of Elections for the Secretary of State, it was determined that volunteers collected 87,675 signatures. Bellamy also noted that they were unable to determine whether 912 signatures were from paid or volunteer canvassers.
The group needed to gather at least 90,704 signatures from at least 50 counties to get a proposed constitutional amendment on the 2024 ballot.
But AFLG continues to assert in the lawsuit that they followed state law, turned in required documents multiple times, and should have been allowed additional time to provided any other documents needed.
In response to the initial count, AFLG said that since Sec. Thurston already counted the signatures collected by paid canvassers as 14,143 the combined total would be 102,730.
"This is well above the number required to move to the next stage of the Secretary's certification process," the group said.
In his original rejection letter to the group, Thurston noted that 14,143 signatures were collected by paid canvassers.
AFLG continued by saying Thurston "unlawfully" disqualified the proposal and that "Arkansans deserve to be heard."
Under state law, any group that uses paid canvassers must provide an affidavit that identifies those canvassers by name. The state also asks that groups educate paid canvassers about gathering signatures and provide them with a state handbook on initiatives and referenda.
If the proposal makes it to the ballot it would allow voters to decide whether they want to expand abortion access up to 18 weeks as well as in instances of rape, incest, or fatal fetal anomaly.
You can read the affidavit by clicking here.