Title 7 — Elections

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Act” means an act having general application throughout the state, whether originating in the General Assembly or proposed by the people;(2) “Amendment” means an amendment to the Arkansas Constitution that is proposed by the people;(3) “Canvass…

(a) (1) The duties imposed by this act upon members of the State Board of Election Commissioners and county boards of election commissioners, election officials, and all other officers expressly named in this act are declared to be mandatory.(2) These duties shall be performed in…

(a) (1) (A) A person who is a registered voter of this state may sign his or her own name and print his or her own name, address, birth date, and the date of signing on an initiative or referendum petition in his or her own proper handwriting, and not otherwise, to order an initi…

(a) The petition for an ordinance, act, or amendment proposed by initiative shall be on substantially the following form:Click here to view form. (b) No additional sheets of voter signatures shall be attached to any petition unless the sheets contain the full language of the peti…

(a) The petition and order of referendum for an ordinance or act shall be on substantially the following form:Click here to view form. (b) The information provided by the person on the petition may be used as evidence of the validity or invalidity of the signature. However, if a …

(a) To every petition for the initiative shall be attached a full and correct copy of the title and the measure proposed. (b) To every petition for the referendum shall be attached a full and correct copy of the measure on which the referendum is ordered.

(a) Before any initiative petition or referendum petition ordering a vote upon any amendment or act shall be circulated for obtaining signatures of petitioners, the sponsors shall submit the original draft with the Attorney General. (b) The original draft shall include:(1) The fu…

(a) Each initiative or referendum petition ordering a vote upon a measure having general application throughout the state shall be prepared and circulated in fifteen (15) or more parts or counterparts, and each shall be an exact copy or counterpart of all other such parts upon wh…

(a) Each petition containing signatures shall be verified in substantially the following form by the canvasser's affidavit thereon as a part thereof:Click here to view form. (b) Forms herein given are not mandatory, and if substantially followed in any petition it shall be suffic…

(a) The popular name of each state measure shall be the popular name provided by the sponsor under § 7-9-107, and the number of the measure on the ballot shall be designated as provided in § 7-9-116. (b) In all legal notices and publications affecting a measure, the measure shall…

(a) The Secretary of State shall ascertain and declare the sufficiency or insufficiency of the signatures submitted on each statewide initiative petition and each statewide referendum petition within thirty (30) days after it is filed. (b) The Secretary of State may contract with…

(a) If the Secretary of State determines that the signatures submitted on a statewide initiative petition or statewide referendum petition are insufficient, the following persons may challenge that determination by petitioning the Supreme Court to determine if the signatures are …

(a) (1) The Secretary of State shall be charged with the duty of letting contracts for publishing notices as authorized in this section.(2) (A) For measures proposed by petition, the petition sponsor shall reimburse the cost of publication to the Secretary of State within thirty …

(a) The Attorney General shall prepare a concise abstract of the contents of each statewide initiative and referendum measure proposed under Arkansas Constitution, Amendment 7, and he or she shall transmit it to the Secretary of State not less than twenty (20) days before the ele…

(a) Not less than eighteen (18) days before the election, the Secretary of State shall furnish the State Board of Election Commissioners and county boards of election commissioners a certified copy of the ballot title and popular name for each proposed measure and each referred a…

(a) The Secretary of State shall fix and declare the number of the issue by which state measures shall be designated on the ballot. (b) Each state measure shall be identified with the issue number designated by the Secretary of State. (c) Measures proposed by initiative petition …

(a) It shall be the duty of the county board of election commissioners in each county to cause each title and popular name to be printed upon the official ballot to be used in the election at which the measure is to be voted upon, in the manner certified by the Secretary of State…

If any election board shall fail or refuse to submit any proposal after its sufficiency has been duly certified, the qualified electors of the county may vote for or against the measure by writing or stamping on their ballot the proposed ballot title, followed by the word “FOR” o…

(a) The vote on each measure shall be counted, tabulated, and returned by the proper precinct election officials to the county board of election commissioners in each county at the time and in the manner the vote for candidates for state and county officers is tabulated, canvasse…

(a) The Secretary of State shall cause every measure approved by the people to be printed with the general laws enacted by the next ensuing session of the General Assembly with the date of the Governor's proclamation declaring the same to have been approved by the people. (b) How…

(a) The right to contest the returns and certification of the votes cast upon any measure is expressly conferred upon any twenty-five (25) qualified electors of the state. (b) Any contest may be brought in the Pulaski County Circuit Court and shall be conducted under any rules an…

If two (2) or more conflicting measures shall be approved by a majority of the votes severally cast for and against the measures at the same election, the measure receiving the greatest number of affirmative votes shall become law.

All petitions, notices, certificates, or other documentary evidence of procedural steps taken in submitting any measure shall be filed and preserved. Petitions with signatures shall be retained for two (2) years and thereafter destroyed. The measure and the certificates relating …

(a) There is hereby established in the office of the Secretary of State a voter registration signature imaging system, and the Secretary of State is authorized to acquire and maintain the necessary equipment and facilities to accommodate the system. (b) The Office of State Techno…

(a) As used in this section, “property” means both real and personal property and includes without limitation both tangible and intangible property. (b) (1) No person who is a sponsor of an initiative petition, referendum petition, or constitutional amendment which proposes the s…

(a) Upon the initial filing of an initiative petition or referendum petition, the official charged with verifying the signatures shall:(1) Perform an initial count of the signatures; and(2) Determine whether the petition contains, on its face and before verification of the signat…

(a) Upon conviction, a person commits a Class A misdemeanor if the person knowingly:(1) Changes a signature other than his or her own signature on a petition;(2) Erases or otherwise removes a signature other than his or her signature on a petition;(3) Intentionally destroys or di…

(a) Within ten (10) business days of a sponsor submitting an original draft under § 7-9-107, the Attorney General shall determine if the proposed measure has a financial impact by virtue of:(1) Increasing or decreasing state revenues, costs, expenditures, or indebtedness; or(2) E…

Amendments to the Arkansas Constitution shall be proposed in either branch of the General Assembly in the form of a joint resolution, which shall be read in full on three (3) several days in each house unless the rules be suspended by two-thirds (⅔) of each house, when it may be …

When any joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Arkansas Constitution shall have passed each house as prescribed in § 7-9-201, it shall be enrolled and signed by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives and filed in the office of the Sec…

The proposed amendment shall be entered on the journals of each house, with the yeas and nays.

The General Assembly may designate in the joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Arkansas Constitution the popular name and ballot title of the amendment for the election ballot.

(1) If the General Assembly passes a joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Arkansas Constitution, a qualified elector may file an action in a court of competent jurisdiction at any time after the passage of the joint resolution challenging the sufficiency of the joint re…

(a) If the General Assembly passes a joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Arkansas Constitution, the Department of Finance and Administration shall determine if the proposed amendment has a financial impact by virtue of:(1) Increasing or decreasing state revenues, costs…

(a) When a majority of the qualified electors of this state voting on the issue at a general election shall vote for the holding of a constitutional convention, the convention shall be held. The delegates thereto shall be selected and qualified as provided in this subchapter. (b)…

(a) At the same general election at which a vote on the calling of a constitutional convention shall be taken, delegates to the convention shall be elected. (b) Candidates for the office of delegate to the constitutional convention shall possess the qualifications required by law…

(a) The basis for representation in any constitutional convention called as a result of an affirmative vote on the calling of a constitutional convention shall be as follows: One hundred (100) members shall be elected from the same districts and on the same basis as members of th…

(a) (1) Every person desiring to be elected as a delegate from a particular House of Representatives district shall file a nominating petition with the Secretary of State containing at least fifty (50) signatures thereon of persons who are qualified electors within the district.(…

(a) The county board of election commissioners shall include on the general election ballots the names of all candidates for delegate to the constitutional convention as certified by the Secretary of State. (b) (1) The candidate receiving a majority of the votes for a particular …

(a) Whenever a majority of the electors vote affirmatively to call a constitutional convention, it shall be the duty of the delegates elected as prescribed in § 7-9-305 to assemble at the State Capitol Building at 10:00 a.m. on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January …

(a) A majority of the delegates shall constitute a quorum, and a majority of the total number of delegates shall be required for approval of any section to be included in a proposed constitution or part thereof or in a proposed constitutional amendment. (b) The constitutional con…

(a) The constitutional convention shall remain in session as long as is required to transact its business and to meet its responsibilities, but not past the following July 1. If the convention determines that additional time is needed, it may vote to recess until the following Au…

(a) Publication of a proposed new constitution by a constitutional convention called by the people of the state at a general election shall be made by one (1) of the following methods, whichever is less costly to the state:(1) One (1) time at the rate of two and one-half cents (2…

(a) The constitutional convention may submit a new constitution as one (1) proposal to be voted on by the people, and it may submit proposed parts or alternative parts of a new constitution for separate votes. The proposals of the convention shall be submitted to the electors of …

The constitutional convention, if it shall not propose a new constitution, may propose one (1) or more amendments to the present constitution to be submitted to the voters at the next general election.

(a) The appropriation to defray the expenses of any constitutional convention which may be called after a vote of the people shall be made by the next regular session of the General Assembly convening after an affirmative vote on the calling of a constitutional convention. (b) Th…

This subchapter shall be known as the “Disclosure Act for Public Initiatives, Referenda, and Measures Referred to Voters”.

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Ballot question” means a question in the form of a statewide, county, municipal, or school district initiative or referendum which is submitted or intended to be submitted to a popular vote at an election, whether or not it qualifies for the ba…

Upon conviction, any person who knowingly fails to comply with any of the provisions of this subchapter shall be fined an amount not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000) or be imprisoned for not more than one (1) year, or both.

(a) (1) (A) A ballot question committee or a legislative question committee shall file a statement of organization with the Arkansas Ethics Commission within five (5) days of receiving contributions or making expenditures in excess of five hundred dollars ($500) for the purpose o…