By Ken Jeffries, Eagle View Managing Editor
In the United States, midterm elections will be held nationwide on Nov. 8. In Arkansas, not only will voters select a U.S. senator and four Congressional representatives, a governor and state lawmakers, but four Arkansas constitutional amendment ballot questions will be decided. These ballot issues will affect only the Arkansas state constitution; yet, they are important because their effects will impact all present and future Arkansans for years to come — many for life.
The four Arkansas state ballot measures are:
| Type | Title | Subject | Description |
| LRCA | Issue 1 | Legislature | Allows the state legislature to call itself into extraordinary sessions upon (a) a joint proclamation from the Speaker of the House and the Senate President Pro Tempore or (b) upon a proclamation signed by two-thirds of the members in each chamber |
| LRCA | Issue 2 | Supermajority | Requires a 60% supermajority vote of approval for initiated constitutional amendments and initiated state statutes to be adopted |
| LRCA | Issue 3 | Religion | Amends the state constitution to provide that “government shall not burden a person’s freedom of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability” |
| CICA | Issue 4 | Marijuana | Legalize marijuana use for residents 21 years of age and older and authorize the commercial sale of marijuana |
| Chart retrieved 10/31/22 from Arkansas elections, 2022 – Ballotpedia |
More information on each of these measures may be found at Ballotpedia’s website.
Arkansas Ballot Issue 2, if passed, would require a 60% supermajority to pass any citizen-proposed constitutional amendments, state statutes (laws) or referendums on whether to keep or repeal newly adopted laws from the legislative session.
Under current law, the process for citizens placing an issue on the ballot involves the drawing up by citizens of Arkansas a ballot proposal aptly titled and properly formatted to conform with Arkansas state statutes.
“This citizen-led process involves filing a ballot title with the Secretary of State’s Office, collecting signatures from voters in at least 15 counties, and the Arkansas Election Commission approving the ballot title,” states the 2022 Arkansas Ballot Issue Voter Guide, produced by the Public Policy Center at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “The number of voter signatures required to qualify a proposal for the statewide ballot varies depending on the type of ballot issue. Petitions for constitutional amendments must contain voter signatures equaling at least 10% of the number of people who voted for governor in the last election. Petitions for state laws require signatures equaling at least 8% of the number of people who voted for governor. (In 2022, the number of signatures required for constitutional amendments is 89,151.)”
The ballot issue guide notes that, “Only after this criteria is met are citizen-led issues placed on the ballot for voters to decide.”
Opponents of Issue 2 point out that there is already a high bar to even get an issue on the ballot, and that to raise the approval percentage from a simple majority to the 60% threshold greatly elevates the difficulty to get initiatives passed. Opponents also claim that it would be unfair for the General Assembly — State Legislature — to continue to require only 50% approval while raising the requirement to 60% for acts initiated by the people. They assert that it will “mean more power for lobbyists, more backroom deals, and less power for voters to decide on the issues that matter most,” according to the 2022 Arkansas Ballot Issue Voter Guide.
The same booklet says that proponents of the measure accuse the current system of making it possible to “amend our constitution in some sort of willy-nilly fashion” and assert that it is too easy to amend our state constitution. Interestingly, they also argue that it “opens the door for big money and out-of-state interests” — a variation of the opponents’ argument.
Matt Evans, professor of political science at NWACC, weighed in on these issues. “If it were up to me, I would lower the threshold for statutes and raise it for constitutional amendments. It might also be useful to have state recalls of elected officials in this state.” He said that as far as putting statutes on the ballot, Arkansas already has a higher threshold than some other states, and putting it at a lower threshold could help groups that do not have the finances to hire professional canvassers. He also said that constitutional amendments should be “extremely limited and difficult to change.”
According to the Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston’s website (Arkansas Secretary of State), over 140,000 Arkansans have taken advantage of early voting as of Friday morning. According to numbers released by the Benton County Clerk’s Office, 34,864 Benton County residents had cast early ballots at the end of the day Wednesday.
Early voting in Arkansas ended Nov. 7 at 5 p.m.
The polls will open at 7:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. on election day, Nov. 8. Benton County polling locations include 32 voting centers.
The website Ballotpedia (https://ballotpedia.org/Arkansas_elections,_2022) lists the following offices and measures that will be voted on Nov. 8:
U.S. Senate, U.S. House, Governor, State Senate, State House, Special state legislative (Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Auditor, Public Lands Commissioner), State Supreme Court, Intermediate appellate courts, School boards, Municipal government, State Ballot measures, and local ballot measures.
On the day of the election, voters may cast their ballots at the Walmart Auditorium in the Shewmaker Center for Workforce Technology on the NWACC campus at 1000 SE Eagle Way in Bentonville.
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