Blockers work in mysterious ways.

            That’s what Cora Jean Liles found last week when she went to collect signatures for an illegal alien ballot initiative. Her group, Secure Arkansas, got Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel to approve their petition on May 7. The proposed ballot initiative aims to prevent illegal aliens from taking advantage of citizens’ benefits like in-state college tuition, vehicle registration, welfare, disaster relief, public health assistance or community services. (Read the initiative here).

            McDaniel’s approval was step one. Liles was working on step two: collect 61,974 signatures to get the initiative on the ballot for the Nov. 4 election.

            She went to the post office in Jonesboro, Ark. May 27 to collect signatures, having garnered a postal employee’s permission to gather signatures, and having collected at a different post office the week previous. She said no more than five of the people she approached actually refused to sign the petition.

            That’s when another postal employee, Ron Driskell, showed up.

            “Who has given you permission to be on government property doing this?” he asked her angrily. At first Liles thought he was just an angry citizen, but he immediately walked inside and called the police. Soon after, three police cars showed up, and asked her to leave.

            We can’t know whether Driskell was or is affiliated with some blocking effort in Arkansas. Whether he is or not, is treatment of Liles stems from a severe misunderstanding of citizens’ right to “petition the government for the redress of grievances.” There’s not much less threatening than a woman, on a lawn, politely asking for signatures – it’s certainly nothing that demands police attention! We’ll keep you updated on what’s happening in Arkansas.