Abortion Rights Voter Nullification In Arkansas And Montana
This is a very detailed article in the Arkansas Times.
arktimes.com/…
Some highlights.
“These documents, and a response letter from Arkansans for Limited Government, changed the picture significantly from the rather vague accusations in Thurston’s letter. The letter’s allegations now seemed flimsier and less cut-and-dried, and his decision to preemptively disqualify the ballot initiative altogether at least appeared to violate the plain language of the law.”
“Arkansans for Limited Government indubitably turned in its required list of paid canvassers. A number of media accounts have been quite misleading on this point, such as a column in yesterday’s Democrat-Gazette.”
“Now that we know precisely what the abortion petitioners turned in, it appears relatively clear that even if the secretary of state’s allegations are true, the law requires the counting and verification process to continue, which would keep the group’s hopes alive.”
There is a lot more information in the article. I read the whole thing and it’s not excessively technical.
Pause In Signature Collection
This is from their email list. To join the list select Sign Up For Urgent Updates on the website, arliberty.org.
As mentioned in our last email on Friday afternoon, there is uncertainty as to whether signatures collected prior to officially receiving a cure period would count toward AFLG's potential cure. In the absence of more definitive legal guidance, we suggest pausing signature collection, including at permanent signing locations, until we have additional clarity. We will continue to provide updates in GroupMe and through this mailing list as more information becomes available.
If you're looking for another activity to redirect your energy while we wait for more information, pivoting to voter registration is a great option. Many of your cluster/county leaders are already involved in this work and will be helpful resources for getting plugged in to voter registration.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out at field@arliberty.org or directly to your cluster/county leader.
We recognize the waiting game is frustrating, and we appreciate your continued patience and commitment to restoring access to abortion in Arkansas.
All our best,
AFLG Field Committee + Cluster/County Leaders
--
Arkansans for Limited Government Field Team
field@arliberty.org | https://arliberty.org/
When will the counting start?
This is the big question. According to the Arkansas Times article the Secretary Of State is required to count the signatures. Even if there are problems around certain technical issues with the submission none of them give Thurston the right to not count the signatures.
These are Republicans in Arkansas and so you cannot expect cooperation even if it is legally required. Arkansans For Limited Government said if the counting did not start today they would take legal action. I am sure they will send news out to their email list. If I get more information today I will update this diary.
Action
Join the email list at arliberty.org. This will keep you abreast of the latest news from AFLG.
And donate
Donation page here, arliberty.org/… Merch page here, shop.arliberty.org
Donate to the Montana effort.
mtreprorights.org
Please add more action links and strategies in the comments.
Rec this diary for exposure. I’m following this story daily and I can’t wait to report that the Secretary Of States office folds and they are counting the signatures.
If you live in Arkansas and you haven’t registered to vote please do that now. If you don’t know how to register go to the AFLG website at arliberty.org. They will help you get registered to vote. We will need you to vote on the amendment after the signatures are counted and it gets on the ballot. (Speaking optimistically)
Montana
Yesterday in the comments MTpika said
“At this time, as far as I know, MSRR (the repro rights group in MT) is not collecting additional signatures, and I have not heard anything to suggest that doing so is possible. MT had a very large margin of signatures, but then again, throwing out signatures of registered voters who did not vote in the last 2 years could potentially eliminate a lot of signatures.
From what I can tell from the latest news reports (Montana Free Press is a good, free online source), right now no one even knows how many signatures are verified— either by the actual rules, or by the rules the SOS pulled out of her ass after the fact.”
There’s more info in her comments in yesterday’s post.
www.dailykos.com/…
I checked the Montana Free Press and found some information here.
montanafreepress.org/…
“While Montana’s secretary of state has yet to determine which measures will qualify for the November ballot, the backer groups behind three other measures have said publicly that they believe they surpassed their signature-gathering thresholds as of the June 21 deadline to submit signatures to county election offices for verification.
The proposals likely to make the ballot are Constitutional Initiatives 126 and 127, which would rework Montana’s elections in an effort to discourage partisanship, and Constitutional Initiative 128, which would enshrine an explicit right to abortion access in the state Constitution.”
This was June 28 and I think MTpika has more uptodate info in yesterday’s post. As the Republicans are doing everywhere with ballot initiatives they don’t like they are skirting legality hoping that even if it does go to court it will be too late once adjudicated to get the referendum on the ballot.
Citizen initiatives involve a tremendous amount of work and to see one Republican politician stand in the way is voter nullification just the same as if they turned people away from the polls.
Please post your news on this national issue in the comments.
There’s a reason why Republicans are doing this. If the amendments are put on the ballot they will pass. Republicans know this but they don’t care about voter’s rights any more than they care about abortion rights.
Count the signatures!
Count the signatures!
