On Tuesday evening the Arkansas Legislature passed a law that will help make ballot measure summaries easier for voters to read and understand.
By law, all ballot measures in Arkansas must have a ballot title. The ballot title is a summary that is supposed to accurately describe the measure so voters can read it and decide if they want to vote for or against the measure.
Unfortunately, these summaries are often misleading, confusing, and poorly written. But H.B. 1713 would fix that.
H.B. 1713 is a good bill by Rep. Ryan Rose (R — Van Buren) and Sen. Mark Johnson (R — Little Rock) requiring ballot initiative titles to be written at or below an eighth grade reading level. This would help address deceptive or misleading ballot measure summaries in Arkansas.
The Arkansas House of Representatives passed H.B. 1713 in March. On Tuesday, the Arkansas Senate passed it as well.
Arkansas’ ballot initiative process has become the opposite of what it was intended to be, and if lawmakers do not act soon, the problem is simply going to get worse.
H.B. 1713 now goes to Governor Sanders to be signed into law.
The Following Senators Voted For H.B. 1713
- J. Boyd
- J. Bryant
- Caldwell
- A. Clark
- Crowell
- B. Davis
- Dees
- J. Dotson
- J. English
- Flippo
- Gilmore
- K. Hammer
- Hester
- Hickey
- Hill
- Irvin
- B. Johnson
- M. Johnson
- F. Love
- M. McKee
- J. Payton
- C. Penzo
- J. Petty
- Rice
- J. Scott
- Stone
- G. Stubblefield
- D. Sullivan
- D. Wallace
The Following Senators Voted Against H.B. 1713
- J. Dismang
- S. Flowers
- G. Leding
- R. Murdock
- C. Tucker
The Following Senator Was Excused from Voting
- B. King
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
