Arkansas A.G. Joins Brief Before U.S. Supreme Court Over Election Problems in PA

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge

Last week Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge joined nine other state Attorneys General in an amicus brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court.

The amicus brief is part of a lawsuit over the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s judgment that allowed ballots in the presidential election to be received by mail three days after Election Day in that state.

The filing argues:

[T]he Pennsylvania Supreme Court overstepped its authority and encroached on the authority of the legislature in ruling that ballots received three days after election can be accepted, including ballots with an illegible postmark or no postmark at all. Second, that voting by mail can create risks of voter fraud, including in Pennsylvania. And lastly, that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision exacerbated these risks of absentee ballot fraud.

The brief goes on to argue,

In a typical Presidential election, it is often hard to predict in advance whether the outcome will be close in any particular State, and whether that State’s decision will affect the outcome of the election. But the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision in this case created a window of time for unscrupulous actors to wait and see until after Election Day whether the outcome would be close enough—both in Pennsylvania, and in the nation as a whole—to make attempting fraud worthwhile.

The brief closes by asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s judgment.

Missouri’s attorney general filed the brief. State A.G.s from Oklahoma, Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Florida signed it as well.

Read the full amicus brief here.

Arkansas Lottery’s Prize Budget Four Times Larger Than Its Scholarship Budget

The Arkansas Lottery’s prize budget for lottery players is more than four times larger than its budget for college scholarships, a new report indicates.

The Arkansas Lottery’s financial report for the month of October shows since July 1 the Arkansas Lottery has spent nearly $134.1 million on prizes, but it has spent less than $32.6 million on students.

All told, only about 17% of the Arkansas Lottery’s budget actually funds college scholarships, but nearly 71% of its budget pays for prizes for lottery players.

As we have written repeatedly, the typical state-run lottery budgets approximately 60% of its revenue for prizes and 30% for education.

The Arkansas Lottery could pay millions of dollars more to scholarships if it simply would reduce its prize budget and raise its scholarship budget — plain and simple.

Below is a breakdown of Lottery revenue and prize spending since Fiscal Year 2021 began on July 1.

Scholarship Spending

MonthGross Lottery RevenuePaid to Scholarships% Gross Revenue
July$49,780,369.99$8,592,573.9317.3%
August49,672,105.047,862,917.4415.8%
September47,501,224.727,691,576.9916.2%
October42,615,839.968,447,337.0019.8%
Total$189,569,539.71$32,594,405.3617.2%

Prize Spending

MonthGross Lottery RevenueTotal Prizes% Going to Prizes
July49,780,369.9935,641,717.4871.6%
August49,672,105.0435,023,856.8370.5%
September47,501,224.7233,422,556.1470.4%
October42,615,839.9629,995,072.5070.4%
Total189,569,539.71134,083,202.9570.7%

Louisiana Voters Approve Pro-Life Amendment Similar to One Arkansas Passed in 1988

Last week voters in Louisiana overwhelmingly supported adding a pro-life amendment to their state’s constitution.

The amendment reads,

“To protect human life, nothing in this constitution shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion.”

The language is very similar to Arkansas’s constitutional amendment 68 that voters passed in 1988.

Arkansas’ pro-life amendment reads,

1. Public funding.

No public funds will be used to pay for any abortion, except to save the mother’s life.

2. Public policy.

The policy of Arkansas is to protect the life of every unborn child from conception until birth, to the extent permitted by the Federal Constitution.

3. Effect of amendment.

This amendment will not affect contraceptives or require an appropriation of public funds.

According to different news outlets, Louisiana’s pro-life amendment makes it more difficult to challenge the state’s trigger law that prohibits abortion if and when the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.

Arkansas passed a trigger law similar to Louisiana’s in 2019.

Act 180 of 2019 by Sen. Jason Rapert (R – Conway) and Rep. Mary Bentley (R – Perryville) prohibits abortion in Arkansas if Roe v. Wade is overturned. The bill was hotly debated at the Arkansas Legislature, but ultimately passed and was signed into law last year.

Arkansas’ and Louisiana’s pro-life trigger laws and pro-life constitutional amendments are very similar and just go to show how states increasingly are taking steps to end abortion and defend the unborn.