LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas election officials on Wednesday Abortion Rights Ballot Measures Organizers had hoped to present the election to voters this fall in Republican-majority states.
The Secretary of State’s office rejected a petition submitted Friday by supporters of the proposal, saying the group had not provided a required statement about paid signature gatherers.
Organizers submitted more than 101,000 signatures on Friday, after needing at least 90,704 signatures from registered voters and a minimum number of signatures from 50 counties.
Secretary of State John Thurston said in a letter to organizers that even if the State Department received signatures it determined were collected from volunteers, the total would be 87,382 signatures, below the number needed.
The group behind the proposed constitutional amendment, Arkansans for Limited Government, said it has submitted documents and been in contact with the Secretary of State’s office throughout the process to ensure all rules and regulations were followed.
“We will vigorously fight this absurd attempt to disqualify us,” the group said in a statement Wednesday night. “We will not back down.”
This measure: abortion After the 20th week of pregnancy, the procedure is permitted in cases of rape, incest, a threat to the woman’s health or life, or if the fetus is unlikely to survive after birth.
United States Supreme Court Abortion rights were stripped nationwide. The 2022 ruling has sparked pressure nationwide to let voters decide the issue. By state. Arkansas’ abortion ban took effect at the time the court’s decision was handed down. Arkansas’ current ban allows abortions only in medical emergencies to protect the mother’s life.
The proposal was seen as a test of support for abortion rights in a Republican state whose top elected officials have long been anti-abortion.
Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who opposed the bill, posted on the social platform X after the bill was defeated, “Today, Arkansas’ far-left pro-abortion wing showed they are immoral and incompetent.”
The ballot proposition was not supported by national abortion rights groups such as Planned Parenthood because it would have allowed for a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
The bill faced fierce opposition from abortion opponents in the state, including the Family Council Action Committee, which has publicly released the names of people collecting signatures on the bill and vowed to challenge the constitutional amendment in court if it is placed on the ballot.
Thurston’s letter cites an Arkansas law that requires campaigns to submit a statement naming their paid canvassers and showing that they have explained the rules for signature-gathering to each paid canvasser.
