The rejection of the “The Arkansas Ballot Measure Rights Amendment” today by Secretary of State Cole Jester was predictable, but the details are particularly disappointing and galling at the same time.
The letter cites evidence of Arkansas laws being violated, but the “laws” he refers to are the nit-picky details that have been imposed to give the Secretary of State a reason to disqualify signatures if he and his party don’t like the content of the initiative. Things like improperly notarized pages, individuals who signed more than once (that happens), and other examples that have the appearance of “forgery,” were used to not to reject the petition, but to cast shade on the whole process, supporting his general assertion that more rules and restrictions on the initiative process are necessary.
And Jester didn’t even need to go through that effort. Evidently, the organizers of the initiative had the wrong name printed on the petition pages. It’s terribly disappointing that such an avoidable, prominent error was not foreseen. That was a major unforced error.
Worst of all: Completely overlooked in this process are the rights of the citizens who signed the initiative in good faith, with full knowledge and intent to petition their government for the redress of specific grievances. Because of errors committed by the organizers and petitioners, and the exploitation of those errors by the Secretary of State in the interest of “election integrity,” the voices of those voters have been squelched.
Fortunately, many of the issues that were addressed by the failed initiative are still open questions in a federal court case. With the direct voice of the citizens silenced, we can only hope that the courts will rule favorably to protect the rights of Arkansans to support citizen initiatives.
Jester’s letter: https://www.sos.arkansas.gov/uploads/Results,_Arkansas_Ballot_Measure_Rights_Amendment.pdf