thurston SoS ark

hope?kosbackers of putting an initiative on Arkansas’ November ballot to <a title="" href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/3/13/1927299/-Voting-Rights-Roundup-Coronavirus-may-disrupt-elections-The-U-S-must-enact-universal-vote-by-mail#14" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">create an independent redistricting commission</a> have announced that they <a title="" href="https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2020/08/05/drive-for-nonpartisan-redistricting-amendment-to-file-more-signatures-today" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">have filed 50,000 more signatures</a> following a <a title="" href="https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2020/08/05/drive-for-nonpartisan-redistricting-amendment-to-file-more-signatures-today" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">30-day deadline extension by Arkansas’ Supreme Court</a> while it reviews supporters’ appeal of GOP Secretary of State John Thurston’s decision to <a title="" href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/7/17/1961597/-Voting-Rights-Roundup-Pennsylvania-GOP-aims-to-gerrymander-the-court-that-blocked-their-gerrymander#7" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">reject all of their signatures as supposedly invalid</a>. Thurston contends that signature-gatherers for this initiative and a separate one to <a title="" href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/7/10/1959795/-Voting-Rights-Roundup-Conservative-judges-deal-twin-setbacks-to-democracy-in-two-Wisconsin-cases#2" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">adopt a form of instant-runoff voting</a> had not “passed” background checks, even though the groups certified that they had “acquired” them.<div class="story-intro story-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Redistricting reformers <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/7/10/1959795/-Voting-Rights-Roundup-Conservative-judges-deal-twin-setbacks-to-democracy-in-two-Wisconsin-cases#2" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">had already submitted nearly 100,000 signatures</a> before the initial deadline earlier this summer, and combined with this latest tranche of signatures, they should have a sufficient cushion to ensure that at least 89,000 are valid statewide and are of a number equivalent to 5% of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election in at least 15 of Arkansas’ 75 counties—that is, if the state Supreme Court overturns Thurston’s decision to reject all of their signatures in the first place.</div><div class="row" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="col-sm-12" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="story-body story-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">A federal appeals court <a title="" href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/7/24/1963571/-Voting-Rights-Roundup-Trump-order-to-remove-noncitizens-from-key-census-data-sparks-lawsuits#14" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">had recently rejected</a> allowing supporters to gather signatures without being witnessed in person, which a lower court had enabled so that voters could sign the forms at home and mail them in. However, while the plaintiffs haven’t indicated whether they would appeal that ruling, the fact that they just submitted tens of thousands of additional signatures shows that their loss in federal court may not end up defeating the ballot effort.If this effort does qualify for the ballot and wins voter approval, it would prevent Arkansas Republicans from gerrymandering the congressional and legislative districts for the first time since at least the Reconstruction era, if not ever...</div></div></div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/reformers-submit-signatures-to-put-a-measure-to-end-gerrymandering-on-arkansas-ballot-this-fall/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/reformers-submit-signatures-to-put-a-measure-to-end-gerrymandering-on-arkansas-ballot-this-fall/</a>