Ballot title approved for district redrawing

A proposed ballot measure that would change who redraws boundaries for legislative and congressional districts after the U.S. Census cleared a hurdle that will allow supporters to begin gathering signatures on petitions.

The proposal is backed by attorney David Couch, who submitted his proposed popular name and ballot title to Attorney General Leslie Rutledge. Rutledge, a Republican, approved them late Friday afternoon.

The state Board of Apportionment redraws legislative district boundaries. The Legislature decides congressional district boundaries. Couch’s proposed constitutional amendment would move the authority for both to a seven-member citizens commission.

The popular name for it is, “An Amendment to Establish the Arkansas Citizens’ Redistricting Commission.”

Both the ballot title and popular name would be on the ballot if Couch collects enough signatures to qualify the measure by July 2019.

Couch will be required to collect signatures equal to 10 percent of the voters who cast ballots in the governor’s race Nov. 6. If he meets his goal, the proposal would appear on the 2020 general election ballot.

Couch wrote Friday in a text message to this newspaper that he hopes to have some volunteers to start collecting signatures during the Nov. 6 general election.

“It WILL be [on] the ballot in 2020,” he wrote.

This “is what I was working on when the idea to raise [the minimum] wage came up,” he said, referring to the proposed initiated act to raise the state’s minimum wage by $2.50 an hour to $11 an hour by 2021. That act is on the Nov. 6 ballot. “We knew we could get enough [signatures to raise the minimum wage] but not for redistricting because AG delays in approval.”

On May 23, an ultimatum issued by the Arkansas Supreme Court spurred Rutledge to begin certifying citizen-driven proposals for the 2018 ballot. She signed off on four measures on three topics, including to raise the minimum wage. Couch also backed the medical marijuana amendment that passed in 2016.

In her letter to Couch released Friday, Rutledge wrote, “I believe a cautionary note is warranted, however, in light of the significance of the subject matter undertaken — apportionment and redistricting — and the complexity and far-reaching effects of this proposal.

“You should be aware that experience has shown a correlation between the length and complexity of initiated measures and their susceptibility to a successful ballot title challenge.

Any ambiguity in the text of a measure could lead to a successful challenge,” she said.