A grassroots organization supported by ALIPAC, fell short of gathering enough signatures to get a proposed constitutional amendment on illegal aliens on the ballot this fall.
The Secretary of State’s office determined that Secure Arkansas, which proposed a constitutional amendment to prevent illegal aliens from receiving certain public benefits, gathered just 67,542 signatures.
That number was arrived at after an initial count and not from the more thorough validation process. The group had been scrambling last week to gather what it thought would be the remaining signatures for the measure.
The group said last Friday that it had submitted 78,211 signatures.
Sponsors of proposed constitutional amendments must circulate petitions and gather 77,468 valid signatures, or 10 percent of the total number of votes cast for governor in 2006, in order to place a proposed constitutional amendment on the 2010 ballot.
Sandra McGrew, a spokesman for the Secretary of State’s office, said Secure Arkansas would have received 30 more days to gather signatures if the shortage had been due to names being tossed out for reasons like illegible handwriting or lack of voter registration. But because the ballot simply didn’t have the required 77,468 signatures, no such extension was granted, McGrew said.
The proposal would have required anyone 14 or older seeking public benefits from a state agency to sign an oath saying they live legally in the United States and would have punished those who falsely fill out an affidavit.
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