Did you know that not every state in the US has the ability to create citizen-led constitutional amendment petitions? Arkansas is just one of nineteen states that provide for citizen initiatives. For a state with the moto “The People Rule,” it’s a pretty cool thing to see: Arkansans from all walks of life seeing something wrong, coming together, and proposing a fix.
That’s what happened with the Arkansas Abortion Amendment. The People Ruled. Arkansas for Limited Government did the work and followed the rules. But as For AR People has pointed out time and time again, it didn’t matter because John Thurston and Tim Griffin decided their pro-life extremism outweighed the people’s voice.
Now, AFLG is going to court to protect the Constitutional rights of 102,000 voting Arkansans.
But the question remains: do the people still rule in Arkansas?
This is not the first time the legislature and Governor’s Office have conspired to limit the right to direct democracy. Legal expert Dr. Bailey Fairbanks pointed out that the legislature has passed laws adding bars, walls, and doors to the ballot initiative procedure twelve times in recent years.
We find this unacceptable and undemocratic. This is unvarnished, unabashed authoritarianism.
But that’s a strong claim to make, isn’t it? After all, Sanders, Griffin, and Thurston were elected – overwhelmingly, if you take the polling numbers at face value.
But their dominant election performances are indeed the end result of authoritarian tendencies in place long before 2022. From the horrifically gerrymandered map creation in 2021 to the closing of polling locations across the Delta, to voter suppression and intimidation tactics, it’s hard to blame Arkansans for making this one of the lowest voter turnout states in the nation. Why bother when your vote is so readily tossed out by those in power?
But the one thing they couldn’t do was stop women with clipboards from hitting the streets. They couldn’t stop grandmothers posting up, week after week, outside libraries and laundromats, gently offering compassion for uncertain signers. They couldn’t stop people having conversations at their book clubs, churches, break rooms: “Have you heard about the Amendment? Have you signed yet? Have you collected any signatures?”
These are the conversations that will continue, even if AFLG loses in court or the Secretary manages to delay certification long enough to prevent it getting on the ballot. Those conversations are what our current state government is so scared of.
Good. Stay scared of the People’s Power.
