(The Center Square) – A ruling Thursday by the Arkansas Supreme Court will keep abortion off the November ballot.
The Court said in a 4-3 decision that Secretary of State John Thurston was correct in his decision not to count signatures obtained by paid canvassers. Without those signatures, the group Arkansans for Limited Government does not have the 90,704 signatures needed to get the question on the ballot.
Thurston said AFLG filed to file a completed paid canvasser training certification, a fact that is “undisputed” even by dissenting judges, the majority wrote. That failure is “fatal,” the court said.
Chief Justice John Dan Kemp said in his dissenting opinion that because the case is not purely “a matter of law” but “rather is a mixed question of law and fact,” a special master should be appointed.
Justice Karen R. Baker said the abortion petition was treated differently than others. Local Voters in Charge, which sponsored a ballot amendment to give county voters a decision on the location of casinos and Arkansas for Patient Access, the sponsor of a ballot amendment to improve medical marijuana access, filed motions to intervene and support AFLG. Both groups were questioned about the use of paid canvassers and were still approved by Thurston’s office.
“Why are the respondent and the majority determined to keep this particular vote from the people? The majority has succeeded in its efforts to change the law in order to deprive the voters of the opportunity to vote on this issue, which is not the proper role of this court,” Baker wrote.
Attorney General Tim Griffin called the decision a win for the rule of law.
“Changing the Arkansas Constitution involves a rigorous process requiring strict adherence to the law,” Griffin said in a statement. “The Arkansas Supreme Court confirmed today that the abortion advocates failed to follow the law that other ballot committees had successfully followed for over a decade since Governor Mike Beebe signed the law governing paid canvassers in 2013.”
AFLG called it a “dark day in Arkansas” in a statement.
“Despite this infuriating result, our fight isn’t over. We can’t — and won’t — rest until Arkansas women have access to safe, standard health care and the autonomy to make decisions about their bodies free from governmental interference. To Arkansans: We hope that you will stick with us in this fight. We are certainly sticking with you,” the group said.
