Arkansas is the latest in a number of states to heat up their signature-gathering efforts with lawsuits requesting some sort of relief due to COVID-19. On Wednesday, May 27th, U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III ruled that each signature does not have to be collected in person. However, they may not be electronic signatures. Holmes also denied their request to push back the deadline from July 3rd to September 3rd and lower the required number of signatures from 89,511 to 53,541.
The changes were requested by Arkansas Voters First, a group seeking to create a voter-approved commission to redraw Arkansas’ legislative and congressional lines after each census.
“We don’t have the luxury of waiting another two years,” said spokesperson George Shelton. “This is something that happens once every 10 years and we feel it’s imperative that we push forward to ensure that people have fair and adequate representation.”
National Ballot Access will be brought on as the signature-collecting firm. Headquartered in Georgia, NBA specializes in gathering signatures for ballot initiatives, veto referendums and recall petition drives across the country. They have a lot of work ahead of them, as the company working for Arkansas Voters First before the COVID-19 halt had only collected 120 signatures.
David Couch, an attorney for Arkansas Voters First, and Shelton are confident they’ll be able to collect enough signatures.