Group has names for a Sunday liquor vote

A group campaigning to allow retail alcohol sales on Sundays in Rogers and Bentonville reports it has collected enough signatures to send the issue to voters in both cities, according to a news release.

Representatives of the Keep Our Dollars Local ballot question committee announced in the release Tuesday it will turn in nearly 3,000 signatures to the Rogers city clerk today. The committee needs 2,423 valid signatures to certify the measure for the ballot in Rogers.

The committee plans to submit another nearly 2,300 signatures to the Bentonville city clerk on June 14. It needs 1,960 valid signatures to certify the measure in Bentonville, the release states.

When a community votes to allow Sunday sales, it applies to retail liquor stores and beer and wine permits at convenience stores and grocery stores, said Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration.

The only way to get Sunday alcohol sales on a ballot is to gather signatures within the community of at least 15% of the number of voters in the towns who voted in the most recent gubernatorial election, according to Hardin. There were 13,067 votes cast in Bentonville and 16,149 votes cast in Rogers in the 2018 governor’s election, said Dana Caler, the Benton County clerk’s elections administrator and voter supervisor.

Keep Our Dollars Local began circulating petitions on April 7 and finished on May 13, said Clay Kendall, committee chairman.

The deadline to submit any questions or issues to be placed on the November ballot is Aug. 30. The items would need to be submitted to the Benton County Quorum Court in July, Caler said.

Decatur voters in the May 24 election approved Sunday alcohol sales in that city.