Arkansas AG, abortion rights advocates battle in court over ballot measure

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The state of Arkansas responded, just ahead of a 4 p.m. Friday deadline, to a challenge brought Tuesday by Arkansans for Limited Government, the group behind a proposed ballot measure to legalize limited access to abortion in the state.

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin filed a motion to dismiss a suit before the Arkansas Supreme Court concerning Secretary of State John Thurston's refusal to begin the certification process for the ballot question.

Thurston cited ostensibly incorrect paperwork in his decision to reject the petition on a technicality and decline to start an official count of the signatures.

"AFLG’s petition falls short and further proceedings would be futile," the attorney general's Friday filing reads. "The Court should therefore decline to require further merits briefing, deny the requested relief, and dismiss this case."

Arkansans for Limited Government said in an emailed statement Tuesday that its suit was over Thurston's “failure to fulfill his constitutional and statutory duties,” and that he was “unlawfully weaponizing bureaucratic processes to silence” the more than 100,000 signers of the group’s petition.

The committee also filed a motion to expedite and for emergency relief.

“Our compliance with the law is clear and well-documented,” said Lauren Cowles, Arkansans for Limited Government's executive director.

The suit, in part, asks the Supreme Court to “Order the Secretary to complete the counting, verification, and certification process in the original time-frame set forth in law.”

“Each day that passes without the counting and verification of signatures makes it more unlikely that certification can occur by the August 22 deadline,” it reads.

Signatures to qualify the measure for the November ballot were due July 5, and Arkansans for Limited Government submitted 101,525, more than enough to meet the threshold of 90,704.

In a July 10 letter, Thurston said that the group did not include a required list of its paid canvassers or an affidavit stating that those canvassers had been properly trained and given a copy of the state's rules for collecting signatures.

He said in a letter to Arkansans for Limited Government that the missing documents "require(s) me to reject your submission outright."

Cowles wrote in a July 11 response letter, "Contrary to your claim, AFLG met the requirements."

She said the committee had in fact submitted the documentation for paid canvassers both in late June and again on July 5 with the signatures.

“My position remains unchanged,” Thurston said in a letter on Monday.

The affidavit submitted on June 27, he said, was signed by someone working for the committee, but not by someone who technically qualified as “the sponsor” of the amendment. He also said that it was not submitted at the same time as the petitions, which were turned over July 5.

“Each of these defects independently required me to reject your petition,” Thurston wrote.

A representative from the Arkansas Attorney General's office declined to comment on Friday.

What is in the amendment and what happens now?

The amendment, if approved by voters, would have legalized abortion up to 18 weeks from fertilization, in cases of rape, incest, fatal fetal anomaly and to save the health of the mother.

Abortion is currently illegal in Arkansas except to save the life of the mother in a medical emergency.

Arkansas is rated the most abortion-restrictive state in the country by pro-life organizations including Americans United for Life.

The extra requirements for paid canvassers at issue were added in 2013, soon after Republicans took control of the state House for the first time in decades.

Bettina Brownstein, an Arkansas attorney and supporter of the amendment, predicted on July 11 that the state's Supreme Court is unlikely to rule in the ballot question committee’s favor.

"I'm very skeptical about this court defying the administration, and the administration is very much against this," she said.