Ballot-measure efforts to rev up
6 have been given go-ahead to start collecting signatures
Arkansas’ preferential primary and nonpartisan judicial elections may be the unofficial start, or in some cases the midpoint, of the campaign season for direct democracy measures.
So far, six proposed constitutional amendments and initiated acts have been given the go-ahead to start collecting signatures for their effort to make the ballot.
Some campaigns have a short time frame to circulate their petitions, while another measure has had months. But whether the measures are a proposed amendment or a proposed act, the groups have until July 5 to get the required number of signatures needed to be added to the ballot.
For AR People Executive Director Gennie Diaz said that while Attorney General Tim Griffin certified ballot language in January for the group’s amendment to restrict the state from banning abortions before 18 weeks after fertilization, the petition effort is “still building out that infrastructure.”
Just getting a measure on the ballot can be expensive, requiring the printing of tens of thousands of pages of petitions, training for volunteers, and potentially recruiting and hiring paid canvassers.
To make the ballot, a constitutional amendment needs at least 90,704 signatures from registered voters, with the petition due to the secretary of state’s office by July 5. When contacted by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, most campaigns declined to provide estimates on the number of signatures they have collected so far, saying they didn’t have an accurate count.
“[We] still have a lot of people asking, ‘Hey, when are you coming to my county?’
And our word is ‘Just hang tight,’ like we’re getting all these volunteers equipped and trained,” Diaz said.
Catherine Clark, who is helping to lead the petition to put an initiated act on the ballot to exempt feminine hygiene products and diapers from sales taxes, said her campaign will likely hit the 30,000-signature mark “hopefully within in the next six weeks.”
Clark said the group is reliant on collecting signatures in the state’s two main population hubs, Northwest Arkansas and Central Arkansas.
That could be an issue for some campaigns after a new state law, Act 236, increased the signature requirement for ballot measures from at least 15 counties to 50 counties. However, that law has been challenged in court, and some campaigns expect it will be overturned.
“We’re also working on getting in contact with Walmart and with Dollar General to see if we can start collecting signatures in front of those locations,” Clark said. “Again, we’re all about meeting people where they’re at and, you know, there’s a Walmart or Dollar General in every county in the state almost.”
Campaigns also have to decide whether they will be an all-volunteer effort or whether they will hire canvassers to collect signatures. Paid canvassers can be expensive, but they are also more efficient at collecting signatures.
Bill Paschall of Arkansans for Patient Access, the group behind a constitutional amendment to expand access to medical marijuana, said in an email that the campaign “will have a combination of paid and volunteer canvassers.”
Griffin approved the ballot title for the medical marijuana amendment Thursday, so Arkansans for Patient Access has yet to collect any signatures, Paschall said.
Arkansans for Patient Access has raised a total of $88,630 since January, according to its latest financial disclosure. In comparison, the Arkansas Period Poverty Project, which Clark said is an all-volunteer effort, has raised just $581 since its formation in November.
Other petition campaigns said they are undecided on whether they will hire canvassers.
“We’re going to attempt to do it with all volunteers,” said Bill Kopsky of For AR Kids, the group pushing a constitutional amendment on education. “We’ll reassess, probably in April, kind of where we are on the volunteer phase. We are not ruling paid signature gathering off the table.”
Ashley Wimberley, treasurer of Arkansas Citizens for Transparency, the group behind a dual amendment and initiated act campaign to strengthen the state’s sunshine law, said whether the group will hire paid canvassers is “going to be a committee decision at some point.”
The group behind the Arkansas Educational Rights Amendment may have a steeper hill to climb than others after its ballot language was approved Friday.
If passed, the amendment would require private schools that accept taxpayer funds to follow the same state regulations as public schools. Additionally, the amendment would create access for universal pre-kindergarten education and set new state minimum standards for public schools to meet.