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Sponsors of the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2024 filed a lawsuit Oct. 1 asking the Arkansas Supreme Court to ensure Issue 3 has a place on the November ballot.
Secretary of State John Thurston notified the sponsor of Issue 3, Arkansans for Patient Access, on Sept. 30 that their proposed constitutional amendment to expand the state's medical marijuana program did not have enough valid voter signatures to qualify for a spot on the ballot.
The lawsuit says Thurston's determination on Sept. 30 was incorrect and he is "thwarting the will of the people and their rights to adopt laws by initiative."
Who is a Sponsor?
The question of who can represent a sponsor is at the heart of lawsuits involving Issue 2 and Issue 3. Earlier this summer, sponsors of the Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024 saw their petitions rejected because of various paperwork issues involving their paid canvassers. Who could sign campaign paperwork on behalf of the sponsor, especially when it came to paperwork about paid canvassers, was one of the issues raised. However, the Arkansas Supreme Court's ruling did not address the point.
But now the same question is before the Arkansas Supreme Court as part of the lawsuit seeking to remove Issue 2 from the ballot, and the lawsuit seeking to qualify Issue 3 for the ballot.
The Issue 3 lawsuit filed Tuesday by Bill Paschal and Arkansans for Patient Access (APA) points out that:
- APA's attorney submitted the initial ballot title to the Attorney General's Office in January 2024 on behalf of the group.
- The Attorney General's Office responded to the APA's attorney on multiple occasions.
- After certification by the Attorney General's Office, APA's attorney submitted the ballot title to the Secretary of State's Office, with an employee accepting the documents in place of Thurston.
- Nationwide Ballot Access, the company APA hired to handle voter signature collections, submitted all the canvasser paperwork to Secretary of State employees.
- On July 31, the Secretary of State's Office notified the ballot issue group they had no less than 77,000 valid signatures. The group qualified for 30 additional days to collect more voter signatures and followed the same method they had done previously through Nationwide Ballot Access.
"Events to this point had proceeded normally and as previous initiative and referendum efforts had been conducted by sponsors, the Secretary of State, and the Attorney General for years. Unfortunately, things were to become anything but normal," the lawsuit complaint states.
On Aug. 8, Thurston notified APA that Nationwide Ballot Access could not make certification of documents on their behalf. Signatures collected during the 30-day cure period would not count if canvasser paperwork was submitted by the company instead of the sponsor.
"On information and belief, up to 28,413 of these signatures were rejected based upon the Secretary's newly invented application of Ark. Code Ann. 7-9-601(b)(3)," the lawsuit states. "This newly "discovered" position is unsupported by either fact or law."
Ballot issue groups must have at least 90,704 valid voter signatures to qualify a constitutional amendment for the ballot, with a certain percentage coming from at least 50 of the state's 75 counties.
What's Next?
The lawsuit asks the Arkansas Supreme Court to require Thurston to count and verify all signatures that have been rejected. The lawsuit also asks that Thurston also be ordered to certify Issue 3 for the ballot, which means votes cast for or against would be counted on Nov. 5.
Opponents of Issue 3 also filed requests Tuesday to intervene in the lawsuit. The Arkansas Supreme Court is expected to move quickly because early voting starts Oct. 21.
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