Opponents to a rule requiring “wet signatures” on Arkansas voter registration forms crowded into a public hearing room Thursday to voice concerns about barriers to voting they say would result from the rule’s adoption.

Organizers did not submit all the required paperwork for the measure to appear on the November ballot, Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston said.

Arkansas will not be one of the states voting on abortion in November after Secretary of State John Thurston rejected a ballot measure that could have legalized abortion through 18 weeks.

Arkansas Republicans cheered the secretary of state’s decision to reject the effort on a technicality. The group that collected the signatures said it “will not back down.”

Arkansas election officials rejected petitions Wednesday that were submitted for an abortion rights ballot measure that organizers hoped to put before voters in the predominantly Republican state this fall.

Other announced speakers include Trump, his son Eric, Republican National Committee co-Chair Lara Trump, former television host Tucker Carlson and various members of Congress, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana.

MOUNTAIN VIEW -- Jim G. Ferguson, commissioner of mines, manufactures and agriculture, opened his campaign for governor at 1 o'clock this afternoon before a meeting of the Crawford County Farmers' Union here. He denounced the "Republican and Little Rock politicians," who he charged prevented a popular expression of the Klan members in the recent Klan elimination contest. Speaking of the legislative investigating committee, Mr. Ferguson charged it was created "for political purposes" and that "certain of its members have devoted most of their efforts to abusing my department." mState Senator Guy H. (Mutt) Jones of Conway kept his seat in the state Senate Friday although most of his colleagues voted to expel him. The vote to remove Jones was 21 to expel and 12 not to expel with one member abstaining and another absent. The senate already had voted Wednesday to require 24 votes -- two-thirds of the membership -- for expulsion. ... The Senate had been under considerable public pressure -- more than many senators had felt on any issue -- to oust Jones since his conviction in federal court in 1972 on federal charges of income tax evasion and filing false income tax returns. mArkansas doctors prescribe painkillers at one of the highest rates in the country, according to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this month. The report recommends states take steps to reduce prescriptions for patients who solicit multiple physicians for painkillers. According to the CDC, in Arkansas 116 prescriptions for painkiller pills were written per 100 residents during 2012. Seven other states have higher prescription rates for painkillers. Tennessee and Alabama tied for the highest rate of 143 prescriptions per 100 residents. Hawaii had the lowest rate of 52 prescriptions per 100 residents.

Scripps News welcomes feedback about our coverage. Call us anytime at 1-833-4-SCRIPPS to share your thoughts and opinions.

Abortion access ballot measures are the center of a new wave of legal and procedural questions across the U.S. In Arizona, there's a dispute over language to describe a measure that could go before voters in November.

The Arkansas secretary of state said that the group collecting signatures to put an abortion-rights amendment on the ballot had failed to submit some of the necessary paperwork.