Arkansas is sued for rejecting petitions on an abortion-rights ballot measure
abcnews.go.com/...
Andrew Demillo on ABC News!
Arkansas is being sued for rejecting petitions in favor of a proposed ballot measure to scale back the state’s abortion ban
…
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Arkansas is being sued for rejecting petitions in favor of a proposed ballot measure to scale back the state's abortion ban, with supporters asking the state Supreme Court on Tuesday to order officials to start counting more than 100,000 signatures from people who back amending the constitution.
…
The state has asserted that this documentation didn’t comply because it wasn’t signed by the sponsor of the initiative, and because all of these documents were not included along with the signed petitions. In the lawsuit, Arkansans for Limited Government said Thurston's office assured the group on July 5 it had filed the necessary paperwork with its petitions.
Despite these disputes, the group says Arkansas law requires they be given an opportunity to provide any necessary paperwork so that the state can begin counting the signatures.
…
Lawmakers in the Republican-controlled legislature approved the current law. Litigating this effort to reinstate the petitions could be difficult. Conservatives hold a majority of seats on the seven-member Arkansas Supreme Court.
Oscar Stilley, an attorney not affiliated with the abortion initiative campaign. filed a separate lawsuit Tuesday also seeking to reverse the state's decision on the petitions.
Wait! Another lawsuit from Oscar Stilley? A quick search reveals that he is a frequent litigant on various issues including the Texas abortion law.
The man behind Texas abortion lawsuit is better known as an anti-tax crusader
www.washingtonpost.com/...
This article from The Washington Post is over two years old.
Stilley, an anti-tax crusader and disbarred lawyer convicted of tax evasion a decade ago, sued a Texas physician who admitted to performing an abortion considered illegal under a new state law, which bars the procedure as early as six weeks into pregnancy.
Stilley says he is not personally opposed to abortion. He has no ties to the doctor he’s sued or the patient who got an early abortion. Rather, he saw an opening in Texas to check the legality of the new abortion restrictions and to potentially collect a pay out.
Arkansas is sued for rejecting petitions on an abortion-rights ballot measure
Andrew Demillo’s story is also on AP News.
apnews.com/…
DeMillo is a government and politics reporter for The Associated Press, based in Little Rock, Arkansas. He has worked for the AP since 2005.
Thank you Andrew Demillo. His story is worth a read. There are details reported that I was unaware of.
So now the issue has been reported on by The Guardian, ABC News, and Associated Press. Please let me know of coverage I may have missed.
The focus on these stories has been the abortion rights amendment which is fair. After all that’s what the story is about.
It was the voter nullification issue that got my goat. After all I signed the petition. I wanted to be counted! My daughters and many many others had worked too hard to be dismissed on lies about a technicality.
This story encapsulates the two biggest issues for Democrats. Abortion rights and voting rights/democracy. And this isn’t just happening in Arkansas and Montana. Elected Republicans are lying and cheating all over the US trying to take our rights away.
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
Even though they won their lawsuit in Montana there’s still a fight ahead to get the amendment on the ballot. You didn’t think the Republicans were going to quit their voter nullification just because a judge told them to? (rhetorical question)
Donate to the Montana effort.
mtreprorights.org
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)
Here’s a good link for voter registration nationwide. If you aren’t registered register now. If you think you’re registered, check. Don’t wait until election day to find out you’ve been purged.
www.vote.org
Please post your news on this national issue in the comments.
Please add more action links and strategies 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!
Thanks
