Justices who split on an abortion measure ruling vie to lead Arkansas Supreme Court

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Two justices who split on whether Arkansas voters should have the chance to scale back the state's abortion ban are both vying to lead the state Supreme Court, though the election won't affect the court's conservative tilt.

Justices Rhonda Wood and Karen Baker are running to replace Chief Justice Dan Kemp in Tuesday's election, where the state's four congressmen are fending off challenges from Democratic candidates.

Voters will also be asked to approve a constitutional amendment that would revoke the license issued by a state panel for a casino.

No matter if Wood or Baker wins, history will be made: For the first time, Arkansas will elect a woman to chief justice of its Supreme Court.

The two justices were on opposites sides of the debate over whether to keep a measure on the ballot that would have scaled back an Arkansas law banning nearly all abortions.

Wood wrote the court's 4-3 majority opinion that upheld the state's decision to reject petitions submitted in favor of the proposal. The court ruled sponsors of the measure did not comply with paperwork requirements for paid signature gatherers.

In a blistering dissent, Baker asked: “Why are the respondent and the majority determined to keep this particular vote from the people?”

Though the seats are nonpartisan, Wood is running with the endorsement of the Republican Party of Arkansas' state committee, Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and GOP Sen. Tom Cotton. Conservatives are already ensured a 5-2 majority on the court, with Sanders slated to fill two vacancies on the seven-member court after the election.

Arkansas has had one woman serve as chief justice, but Betty Dickey was appointed to the post by former Gov. Mike Huckabee in 2003, not elected.

All four of Arkansas' Republican congressmen are fending off challenges from Democrats who are trying to break the GOP's hold on all of the state's federal seats.

Rep. Rick Crawford is running against Democrat Rodney Govens for the 1st District, which covers east Arkansas. Crawford was first elected in 2010 to represent the district, which includes Jonesboro and West Memphis. He is a senior member of the House Agriculture Committee and has said he'll seek the top Republican spot on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Govens is a Cabot resident who has worked in the telecommunications industry. Libertarian nominee Steve Parsons is also running.

Rep. French Hill faces Democrat Marcus Jones in the race for the 2nd District, which includes Little Rock and surrounding areas. Hill was first elected to the seat in 2014 and is vice chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Jones is a retired Army colonel who served as senior Army adviser to the Arkansas Army National Guard at Camp Robinson.

In northwest Arkansas' 3rd District Rep. Steve Womack is running against Democrat Caitlin Draper, a clinical social worker. Womack was first elected in 2010 to the district, which includes Fayetteville and Fort Smith. Libertarian Bobby Wilson is also running. Womack, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, fended off a challenge in the Republican primary earlier this year from a state legislator.

And in the 4th District, which covers south Arkansas, Rep. Bruce Westerman is running against Democrat Risie Howard, an attorney from Pine Bluff. Westerman was first elected to the U.S. House in 2014 and chairs the House Committee on Natural Resources.

A measure on the ballot in Arkansas could block the last of four casinos that voters approved in what has become a battle between the Cherokee and Choctaw nations.

The proposed constitutional amendment would revoke a license the state issued to Cherokee Nation Entertainment to build a casino in Pope County. Choctaw Nation has spent more than $17 million on the campaign for the proposal.

Pope County was one of four sites where casinos were allowed to be built under a constitutional amendment that voters approved in 2018. Casinos have already been set up in the other three locations. Cherokee Nation Businesses has spent more than $12 million on the campaign against the amendment.

Other proposals that would have scaled back the state's abortion ban and expanded its medical marijuana program were blocked from the ballot by state election officials.

Another measure that the state Legislature voted to place on the ballot would allow proceeds from the state's lottery to be used to fund scholarships at vocational and technical schools.

FILE - Risie Howard speaks to reporters at the Arkansas Capitol, Nov. 14, 2023, in Little Rock, Ark. (AP Photo/Andrew Demillo, File)

FILE - Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., center, chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, delivers remarks at the Capitol in Washington, March 27, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - Caitlin Draper poses for an official photo at the Arkansas State Capitol in Little Rock, Ark., Nov. 6, 2023, after filing paperwork to run for the 3rd Congressional District. (AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo, File)

FILE - Subcomittee Chairman Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., speaks during a hearing of the House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies on Capitol Hill, May 1, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

FILE - Marcus Jones, front left, files paperwork to run for Arkansas' 2nd Congressional District at the state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark., Nov. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo, File)

FILE - Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., nominates Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as the House meets for the third day to elect a speaker and convene the 118th Congress in Washington, Jan. 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

FILE - Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., speaks during a House Intelligence, Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation Subcommittee hearing on "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena," on Capitol Hill, May 17, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Justices who split on an abortion measure ruling vie to lead Arkansas Supreme Court

Justices who split on an abortion measure ruling vie to lead Arkansas Supreme Court

FILE - Boxes containing signatures supporting a proposed ballot measure to scale back Arkansas' abortion ban are delivered to a room in the state Capitol, July 5, 2024, in Little Rock, Ark. (AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo, File)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Qatar opened a snap poll Tuesday to decide whether to end its limited voting for legislative seats, a measure likely to pass and end its short-lived experiment in electing members of the country’s advisory Shura Council.

Voting began as the world's attention focused on the U.S. presidential election, with even Qatar’s state-funded satellite news network Al Jazeera offering brief acknowledgments of the vote wedged between coverage of the U.S. and the Mideast wars. Though Qatar's ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, announced last month a vote would take place, it was only Sunday that authorities announced the date of the poll.

Voting will run until 7 p.m. (1600 GMT) and results are expected on Wednesday. All Qatari employees in the country also were granted permission to leave work beginning from 11 a.m. to vote.

Qatar's state news agency described the voting as “an enthusiastic atmosphere and a historic moment, clearly confirming everyone’s keenness to make this national celebration a success.”

The vote will “strengthen the social fabric in the most beautiful image and form, which honestly represents an important stage in the country’s victorious march and its national unity,” the news agency added.

Qatar first introduced plans for legislative elections in its 2003 constitution, but authorities repeatedly postponed implementing the vote. The country finally held elections for two-thirds of the Shura Council, which drafts laws, approves state budgets and advises the ruler, in October 2021.

The elections came after the end of a boycott of Qatar by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that tore the Gulf Arab states apart. It also came about a year ahead of Qatar hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup, an event that drew intense scrutiny from the West of the country's treatment of foreign laborers and its system of governance.

Qatar remains an important nation to the West as it hosted the Taliban and assisted in the chaotic 2021 NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan and as a mediator as the Israel-Hamas war rages in the Gaza Strip and has expanded to Lebanon.

But the election created problems in the energy-rich nation. Electoral law distinguishes between born and naturalized Qatari citizens and bars the latter from electoral participation. Human Rights Watch described the system as “discriminatory,” excluding thousands of Qataris from running or voting. The disqualifications sparked minor protests that led to several arrests.

In announcing the vote on changing the constitution, Sheikh Tamim said: “The contest between candidates for membership in the Shura Council took place within families and tribes, and there are different views regarding the repercussions of such competition on our norms, traditions, as well as the conventional social institutions and their cohesion.”

“The contest assumes an identity-based character that we are not equipped to handle, with potential complications over time that we would rather avoid," he added.

The vote marks yet another rollback in the hereditarily ruled Gulf Arab states of halting steps to embrace representational rule following efforts by the United States to push harder for democratic reforms in the Middle East after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Hopes for democracy in the region also rose in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring.

In May, the ruler of oil-rich Kuwait dissolved his country’s parliament for as much as four years. While the Kuwaiti parliament had struggled, it represented the Gulf Arab state’s most free-wheeling legislative body and could challenge the country’s rulers.

In this image released by the state-run Qatar News Agency, a Qatari votes in a snap poll to decide whether to end its limited voting for legislative seats in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Qatar News Agency via AP)