Arkansas Supreme Court Orders First Count of Abortion Amendment Signatures

Great good news!

Arkansas Supreme Court Orders First Count of Abortion Amendment Signatures

The Arkansas Supreme Court has ruled that thousands of signatures collected by proponents of an abortion bill must be counted by the secretary of state.

Reported on THV11

www.thv11.com/…

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Tuesday night that the more than 100,000 signatures collected by proponents of an abortion amendment must be counted by Secretary of State John Thurston.

It was an order that came from a majority of the justices in a lawsuit brought by those supporters. The order calls on Secretary of State John Thurston to conduct an initial count of signatures collected by volunteer canvassers.

…

The initial count will determine the next steps and must be completed by the morning of July 29, after which the Arkansas Supreme Court will hold another hearing.

Following the High Court ruling, the AFLG released the following statement:

“Today, the will of the people prevailed. The Arkansas Supreme Court ordered the Secretary of State to count the signatures collected by volunteers in support of the Arkansas Abortion Amendment. On behalf of 101,000 Arkansas voters, 800 volunteers, and the AFLG team, we thank the Court for upholding democracy in Arkansas.

So not only does Thurston have to count signatures, he also has to appear in court on July 29. To me, this means that with this ruling, they are not done enforcing the lawsuit.

If Thurston fails to report, the court has the opportunity to require the referendum to appear on the ballot, as Arkansans For Limited Government has requested in the lawsuit.

If Thurston does report, I expect they will scrutinize the count closely and ensure the proper curing period is maintained, if necessary.

Secretary of State Thurston and Attorney General Griffin went too far, and now the Arkansas Supreme Court is responsible for validating the petition and ensuring the referendum gets to the ballot if the legal requirements are met.

And when Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “Today, the far-left pro-abortion movement in Arkansas has shown itself to be both immoral and incompetent,” she was the lying sack of shit we’ve come to expect her to be. Not only was Arkansans For Limited Government not incompetent, they won their case, and now the Arkansas Supreme Court has taken over from Thurston and is overseeing the count and the vote.

As I said yesterday, the 1 2 3 punches from the Secretary of State, the Governor, and the Attorney General stink of collusion. The reason the Arkansas government is resisting Freedom of Information requests from the press is because they are incapable of colluding like this without leaving a paper trail. See what I did there? Now I call them incompetent.

What we know now does not prove that there was an unlawful conspiracy to disenfranchise Arkansas citizens, but it certainly deserves further investigation.

This could be bigger than podiumgate.

Also reported in the comments yesterday.

Iowa’s 6 weeks abortion ban goes into effect on monday

www.dailykos.com/…

According to AP on DailyKos.

An Iowa judge has ruled that the state’s strict abortion law will go into effect Monday, banning most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.

The law passed last year, but a judge had blocked its enforcement. The Iowa Supreme Court reiterated in June that there is no constitutional right to abortion in the state and ordered the block lifted. That translated into a district judge’s decision Monday to allow the law to go into effect next Monday at 8 a.m. Central Time.

…

There are limited circumstances under Iowa law that allow abortion after six weeks of pregnancy: rape, if reported to police or a health care provider within 45 days; incest, if reported within 145 days; if the fetus has an abnormality “incompatible with life”; or if the pregnancy endangers the mother’s life.

So it’s back to waiting in the emergency room parking lot until you almost die.

Can they pass a referendum in Ohio? We will pass it in Arkansas if we can get on the ballot.

Action!

Now that Kamala Harris is the presumptive nominee, I have a new action item.

Wouldn’t it be great if Harris would mention the situation in Arkansas? It’s a perfect example of top Republican administration illegally fighting against abortion rights and voting rights/democracy, our two core platform items. And it’s not just Arkansas. It’s a national movement of Republicans to deny abortion rights activists democracy that is happening and has happened in Montana and other states.

How do we propose this? How do we get this to Harris? I can see that she wants to talk about this. It fits right in with her main talking points.

And, God knows, we need someone to shed some light on this situation in Arkansas. My first journal entry on this subject was titled We Need Help In Arkansas and that is still true.

Join the email list at arliberty.org to stay up-to-date on the latest news from AFLG.

And donate

Donation page here, arliberty.org/… Merch page here, shop.arliberty.org

Even though they won their case in Montana, there is still a fight to get the amendment on the ballot. You didn’t think the Republicans would give up their voter nullification just because a judge told them to, did you? (rhetorical question)

Donate to the foundation in Montana.

mtreprorights.org

Rec this diary for exposure. I follow this story daily and can’t wait to report that the Secretary Of State’s office is going bankrupt and they are counting signatures.

(Yes, I can leave this out in the future. Done, done! Checked and enjoyed.)

If you live in Arkansas and have not registered to vote, please do so now. If you do not know how to register, go to the AFLG website at arliberty.org. They will help you register to vote. We need you to vote on the amendment after the signatures are counted and it is on the ballot. (Optimistically speaking)

Here is a good link for voter registration nationwide. If you are not registered, register now. If you think you are registered, check. Don’t wait until Election Day to find out you have been removed.

www.vote.org

Post your news about this national problem in the comments.

Please add more action links and strategies in the comments.

There is a reason Republicans do this. If the amendments go on the ballot, they will pass. Republicans know this, but they don’t care about voter rights any more than they care about abortion rights.

Count the signatures!

Thank you