On July 3, 2024, the Arizona for Abortion Access campaign submitted petitions with over 823,000 signatures to the Office of the Secretary of State. This is more than double the 383,923 required valid signatures. Dozens of LD18 volunteers participated in the signature-gathering effort. This effort included the work of volunteers from all corners of the state as well as paid petition circulators. The number of signatures collected is being celebrated as the most for any citizen initiative in the state’s history. The initiative seeks to enshrine the fundamental right to abortion in the state constitution.
The next step will be confirming that at least 383,923 of these signatures are deemed valid. First, the Secretary of State’s Office will review entire petition sheets to see if they meet all legal requirements. The Secretary’s office has 20 business days from July 3 to accomplish this task and notify the applicant of the total number of petitions eligible for county verification.
Next, the Secretary’s office will forward 5% of the eligible petition sheets to the county recorders. The county recorders will check to see if each voter listed on the petition is, in fact, a real person and a registered voter in that county. The recorders have 15 business days to determine “validity rates” of signatures collected in their county and to submit results to the Secretary of State for review and certification.
Simultaneously, opponents of the initiative may prepare lawsuits to have it removed from the ballot by arguing to disqualify individual signatures, whole petition sheets or individual petition circulators and all the signatures they collected. By August 23, 2024, we should know much more. By the end of August, we should know whether we still need to worry about challenges.
Thank you to all who met the challenge by collecting signatures, signing petitions and supporting this historical, record-breaking effort and campaign.