In what might be a boost to beleaguered Democrats in at least one must-needed battleground state, organizers fighting for abortion rights in Arizona and Nebraska announced they submitted sufficient petition signatures to get ballot measure guarantee access to reproductive care on their states’ ballots, the Associated Press reports.
The problem is, in Nebraska, there will likely be two competing measures on the ballot: one to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution, like Arizona’s proposal, and one that would enshrine the current state law that outlaws most abortions after 12 weeks.
In Arizona, activists collected 823,685 signatures, far beyond the 390,000-ish needed. Pro-choice organizers in Nebraska collected more than 200,000 when 123,000 signatures were required. Officials in each state must certify the signatures, but it appears both measure will be in voters’ hands in November.