Arkansas Voters First announced that they have filed an additional 50,000 signatures for their measure hoping to establish a nonpartisan commission to draw legislative districts. The group originally submitted just under 100,000 signatures before the initial deadline.
In Arkansas, if there are at least 75 percent of needed valid signatures, petitioners have an extra 30 days to collect supplementary signatures or prove invalidated signatures were actually valid.
The Arkansas Supreme Court is reviewing an appeal of Secretary of State John Thurston’s decision to reject all of the signatures for three initiatives, but allowed the group to begin their cure period and gather additional signatures while awaiting the verdict. Thurston rejected the statewide initiatives over issues regarding background checks. He claimed that Arkansas Voters First submitted certifications stating that the background checks were acquired but did not say they were passed.
The fact that the group submitted additional signatures may indicate they are not relying on an appeal in another federal court case. This case rejected a recent ruling that would have allowed signatures to be collected without being witnessed in person and collected at home and mailed in.
