Issue No. 3 - A Constitutional Amendment To Amend The Process For The Submission, Challenge, And Approval Of Proposed Initiated Acts, Constitutional Amendments, And Referenda

Summary

This Constitutional Amendment would do the following 1. require that a petition must contain valid signatures equaling at least half of the required percentage of signatures from each of 45 counties instead of the current requirement of 15 counties; 2. require a three-fifths vote of both chambers of the legislature to refer a proposed constitutional amendment to voters; 3. eliminate the option for petitioners to collect extra signatures for 30 days if the petition fails to meet the signature requirement but the petition has at least 75% of the valid signatures needed; 4. require challenges to the sufficiency of any ballot measure to be filed no later than April 15 of the election year; and 5. require signatures for citizen initiative petitions to be submitted to the secretary of state by January 15 of the election year rather than the current deadline of four months before the election.

A “YES” vote on Issue No. 3 is a vote in support of updating the language of the Arkansas Constitution sections pertaining to initiatives, amendments, and referenda.

A “NO” vote on Issue No. 3 is a vote to maintain the current language of the Arkansas Constitution sections pertaining to initiatives, amendments, and referenda.

Arguments

"In 2018, a combined $6 million had been raised and spent on an issue that was removed from the ballot less than a month before Election Day. It is important that Court decisions on legal challenges be finalized much earlier than a few weeks before Election Day.", in support of Issue No. 3 (Learn more)

"It has become quite common for ballot initiatives to be backed by well-funded, out-of-state interests. We believe more Arkansans should have a voice in the ballot initiative process.", in support of Issue No. 3 (Learn more)

"If people vote for Issue 3 this November, not only will it make it much harder for us to get something on the ballot, it will effectively eliminate our right to challenge anything to be put on the ballot.", in opposition to Issue No. 3 (Learn more)

"More signatures required means more money would have to be spent to collect signatures; so only the biggest, best-financed campaigns could succeed in moving their measure forward. It would also decrease the amount of time citizens can collect signatures for ballot measure petitions by about six months, adding yet another barrier to signature collection.", in opposition to Issue No. 3 (Learn more)

"We all have seen issues we didn’t support pass at some point at the ballot box. We’ve also all seen issues we agreed with be rejected at the ballot box at some point. That’s democracy-none of us get everything we want all the time but it beats the heck out of not having a say. If Issue 3 passes, we lose that altogether.", in opposition to Issue No. 3 (Learn more)

Measure Details