LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The group looking to repeal the Arkansas LEARNS Act is in its final stretch of getting signatures on a petition for a referendum.
Citizens for Arkansas Public Education and Students (CAPES) is tasked with getting more than 50,000 signatures by July 31, to get the item on the November 2024 ballot for voters.
CAPES recently created a hotline for people experiencing intimidation or bullying over signing the petition and director Kimberly Crutchfield said the reports she has heard point to administrators, superintendents or bosses in the private sector.
“They are using all these intimidation and bullying tactics that are not true to get people to forgo their constitutional right to petition the government,” Crutchfield said. “It is against the law first and foremost for you to intimidate someone not to participate in your democracy.”
Crutchfield said the ACLU of Arkansas helped create the hotline, though a spokesperson for ACLU said they are not involved in any hotline related to signature collection.
A spokesperson for Attorney General Tim Griffin responded to the claim.
“We have not received any complaints regarding alleged intimidation, but we welcome any information,” the spokesperson said.
KARK 4 News has reached out to the spokesperson for Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders about these claims. She has not responded yet.
