In a 4-3 decision, the Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday ruled signatures collected by paid canvassers to place an amendment legalizing abortion on the November ballot cannot be counted. This effectively blocks the amendment from going before voters.
The group Arkansans for Limited Government (AFLG) had gathered over 100,000 signatures to place the amendment on the ballot, well over the 90,074 needed; but, only 87,675 were collected by volunteers. The rest, about 14,000, were collected by paid canvassers.
In July, Secretary of State John Thurston rejected the amendment on the grounds that AFLG had not complied with state law regarding paid canvassers. Under state law, a sponsor is required to sign a statement affirming that each paid canvasser has received a copy of the secretary of state’s initiative and referenda handbook, and that they have had canvassing laws explained to them.
It's unclear if AFLG actually failed to follow the law. FOIA requests from the Arkansas Times show that they turned in documents similar to the ones the secretary of state said he didn't have. The AFLG asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on the case believing the Secretary of State had made the wrong call in rejecting their petition outright.
At first, the court ruled that the unpaid signatures must be counted, but were unclear about what actions the AFLG was allowed to take further. In Arkansas, canvassing groups that validate 75% of signatures then receive a cure period, or 30 days to collect more.
Supreme Court Associate Justice Rhonda Wood wrote for the majority in Thursday's opinion, saying the law clearly states what is required of the ballot question committee regarding paid canvassers.
“This court is being asked to order another constitutional officer, the Arkansas Secretary of State, to ignore a mandatory statutory provision that he has enforced,” the opinion reads. “That is not the proper role of the court.”
While Thursday’s opinion denies the state’s motion to dismiss AFLG’s case against them outright, it does not provide further relief to AFLG and rules the signatures collected by paid canvassers cannot be counted.
“Even giving it the benefit of the doubt, AFLG admits that at least seventy-four of the paid canvassers failed to ever have such certification filed,” the ruling reads. “It is undisputed, even by the dissenting justices, that there was not a paid canvasser certification filed for ‘each paid canvasser.’ There is no question that this is not what the petitioners provided, which is why this is an issue of law and not of fact.”
The majority opinion did not delve into the question of the word “sponsor.” AFLG had submitted some paperwork that was signed by an agent of the company contracted to hire and train paid canvassers. This also caused two other groups behind proposed amendments related to casinos and medical marijuana, both of which have already been approved by the secretary of state, to seek to join AFLG’s case.
“AFLG, the Secretary, and the Intervenors, argue in part about whether an agent of a sponsor can sign the paid canvasser training certification. Given the undisputed facts, we do not need to decide that issue today,” the opinion reads.
Associate Justices Courtney Hudson and Karen Baker joined Chief Justice John Dan Kemp in dissenting. Kemp described the case as “an anomaly in Arkansas jurisprudence.”
“The majority deliberately bypassed the issue concerning who has the authority to sign the certification even in light of the allegations of disparate treatment that have been made regarding the respondent’s treatment of three initiative petitions—the current petition and two others in circulation during this election cycle,” said Baker. “Even a cursory review of how the present ballot initiative has progressed since its inception demonstrates that both the respondent and the majority have treated it differently for the sole purpose of preventing the people from voting on this issue.”
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin celebrated Thursday’s ruling as a win for the state.
“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,” Griffin said in a statement. “This is a win for the rule of law in Arkansas and for those who have followed the rules for years to participate in the state’s ballot initiative process.
In a statement, AFLG spokesperson Rebecca Bobrow said it's "a dark day in Arkansas."
"More than 102,000 Arkansas voters exercised their constitutionally protected right to engage in direct democracy by signing the petition to get the Arkansas Abortion Amendment on the ballot. The Court’s majority ratifies Secretary Thurston’s decision to silence those voices."
"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," the statement reads.
"This effort has generated a wave of fiercely engaged Arkansas women. We are outraged. We will not back down. And we will remember this in November."
