Fighting for Democracy in Arkansas

I mentioned the other day the bullshit that Arkansas’s Secretary of State used to try and stop voters from deciding whether abortion will be legal in that state. Well, our correspondent in Arkansas (a reader I frequently chat with) notes that the fight is not yet over and here’s an update:

But on Thursday, the plot thickened again: Thurston’s office admitted to the Arkansas Times that it had been mistaken in earlier stating that Arkansans for Limited Government had submitted just two documents on July 5 along with signatures. Once the full slate of documents was released — around the same time that the abortion petitioners issued a detailed response to Thurston — the reasons for nixing the signatures started to look more rinky-dink, with more avenues for challenge. Moreover, it now appears that Thurston’s decision to stop the count altogether could violate state law.

Lauren Cowles, executive director of Arkansans for Limited Government, sent Thurston a sharply worded letter Thursday saying he had “unlawfully rejected” the petition. “You must continue counting,” she told him.

That doesn’t mean that abortion petitioners are out of the woods. Their fate will ultimately be in the hands of state officials and judges, many of whom are politically hostile to their cause. If Thurston’s office does resume counting, they could still see significant numbers of signatures rejected. And even if they survive this hurdle, significant challenges will remain.

But the funeral atmosphere of Wednesday now appears premature. The fight has only just begun.

Good. Keep up that fight!