ARKANSAS, USA — A statewide referendum aimed at stopping the LEARNS Act has been rejected by Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin for the second time.
On Monday, April 24, AG Griffin rejected the first referendum aimed at overturning the LEARNS Act stating that he believes that it's "misleading" and "insufficient."
In his first decision, Griffin said the ballot title "failed to explain the impact of a vote for or against the measure and failed to adequately summarize the LEARNS Act. Therefore, the proposal failed to meet legal standards and cannot be certified."
The referendum was introduced by CAPES (Citizens for Arkansas Public Education and Students), with the organization continuing its pushback against the LEARNS Act as they feel it will be detrimental to public education in the state.
On Thursday, May 11, Griffin said the second ballot title was rejected for four reasons: Missing summaries, insufficient summaries, continuing problems and illegible fonts.
In the section listing "continuing problems" Griffin says there are grammatical and typographical errors and says "While these problems, by themselves, are not reasons why I am rejecting your proposal, I highlight them to make clear that your effort to redesign your proposed ballot title overlooked simple and easily corrected errors."
Griffin also rejected the referendum because the font was too small. "In my opinion, a court would most likely declare that a multipage ballot title in 6-point font is legally insufficient for that reason alone because, regardless of the summary's content, most people asked to sign the petition or to vote on the matter would be unable to read it."
CAPES said that this pushback is due to the fact that the legislation will lead to the consolidation of schools throughout the state. They also said that it will further lead to the defunding and privatization of public education.
CAPES is a new ballot question committee in Arkansas that was created with the goal of giving "power back to the people" and letting them "#SayNoToLEARNS." They originally filed a statement of organization with the Arkansas Ethics Commission on April 10.
On Friday, May 12, CAPES responded to Griffin's decision, stating that they plan on submitting a third draft by early next week.
Between the window of the third submission and AG Griffin's response, CAPES says it will "mobilize."
"This additional time will be used to continue recruitment, to host training and fundraisers, and to gear up to get the required 54,422 verified and notarized signatures to put the People’s Referendum on the ballot," CAPES said in a statement.
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