On Wednesday the Arkansas House State Agencies Committee advanced a good bill strengthening Arkansas’ laws concerning ballot initiative fraud.
The Arkansas Constitution lets people circulate petitions to place measures on the ballot for a vote. However, many people do not understand that petitions are legal documents — and that there are serious laws concerning petition fraud.
S.B. 207 by Sen. Kim Hammer (R — Benton) and Rep. Kendon Underwood (R — Cave Springs) requires petition canvassers to inform people that petition fraud is a crime before obtaining their signatures on a petition.
Arkansas’ ballot initiative process has become the opposite of what it was intended to be. Instead of giving citizens a way to pass good laws, powerful special interests have used ballot initiative process for their own purposes.
Arkansans have testified in committee alleging that canvassers for the 2024 Arkansas Abortion Amendment violated state law and were paid bonuses for “altercations” with pro-lifers who opposed the abortion amendment.
If the Arkansas Legislature does not enact good laws that bring accountability and transparency to the ballot initiative process, these sorts of problems will simply continue to get worse.
S.B. 207 is a good bill. It now goes to the entire Arkansas House of Representatives for consideration.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
