Title 7 — Elections

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) (A) “Approved political action committee” means any person that:(i) Receives contributions from one (1) or more persons in order to make contributions to candidates, ballot question committees, legislative question committees, political parties,…

A person who knowingly fails to comply with this subchapter shall upon conviction be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor unless a different penalty applies under this subchapter.

(a) (1) (A) It shall be unlawful for any candidate for any public office or for any person acting on the candidate's behalf to accept campaign contributions in excess of the maximum campaign contribution limit established by the Arkansas Ethics Commission under subsection (i) of …

(a) No campaign contribution in excess of one hundred dollars ($100) or expenditure in excess of fifty dollars ($50.00) shall be made or received in cash. (b) All contributions or expenditures in behalf of a campaign activity, other than in-kind contributions and expenditures, in…

(a) No campaign contribution shall be made to a candidate, a political action committee, an independent expenditure committee, an exploratory committee, a county political party committee, or a political party unless such contribution is made directly to the intended recipient. P…

(a) A candidate, a person acting in the candidate's behalf, a political party, a county political party committee, a political action committee, an independent expenditure committee, or a person making independent expenditures shall keep records of all contributions and expenditu…

(a) Reports Required. (1) Except as provided in subsections (c) and (e) of this section, each candidate for state or district office, including a district judge, or a person acting in the candidate's behalf, shall file with the Secretary of State:(A) For each quarter during a cal…

(a) Reports required. (1) Except as provided in subsection (d) of this section, each candidate for school district, township, or municipal office, or a person acting in the candidate's behalf, shall file with the Secretary of State in an election year for the office that the cand…

(a) Reports Required. (1) Except as provided in subsection (d) of this section, each candidate for county office or a person acting in the candidate's behalf shall file with the Secretary of State in an election year for the office that the candidate is seeking:(A) (i) A monthly …

(a) (1) The transfer of a candidate's own personal funds to his or her campaign shall be reported as either a loan from the candidate to his or her campaign or a contribution from the candidate to his or her campaign.(2) In the event the transfer of such funds is reported as a lo…

All reports required to be filed by the provisions of this subchapter shall be verified by affidavit by the candidate or a person acting in the candidate's behalf stating that to the best of his or her knowledge and belief the information so disclosed is a complete, true, and acc…

(a) (1) Upon proper filing, the information required in §§ 7-6-203, 7-6-207 — 7-6-210, 7-6-215, 7-6-216, and 7-6-220 shall constitute a public record and shall be available within twenty-four (24) hours of the reporting deadline to all interested persons and the news media.(2) Th…

(a) (1) (A) To qualify as an approved political action committee, the political action committee shall register with the Secretary of State within fifteen (15) days after accepting contributions during a calendar year that exceed five hundred dollars ($500) in the aggregate.(B) R…

(a) (1) An exploratory committee shall register with the appropriate filing office within fifteen (15) days after receiving contributions during a calendar year which, in the aggregate, exceed five hundred dollars ($500).(2) (A) For a state or district office, the place of filing…

(a) (1) The Arkansas Ethics Commission shall be composed of five (5) members, one (1) each appointed by the Governor, Attorney General, Lieutenant Governor, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and President Pro Tempore of the Senate.(2) Members of the commission shall be app…

(a) (1) Any citizen may file a complaint with the Arkansas Ethics Commission against a person covered by this subchapter, by § 6-24-101 et seq.; § 7-1-103(a)(1)-(4), (6), or (7); § 7-1-114 [repealed]; the Disclosure Act for Public Initiatives, Referenda, and Measures Referred to …

(a) (1) Any person who was a candidate and has a campaign debt from an election that has ended may solicit funds and hold fundraisers to retire the campaign debt.(2) The contributions received shall be treated as campaign contributions to the person's previous campaign, and all c…

(a) A person who or an independent expenditure committee which makes independent expenditures in an aggregate amount or value in excess of two hundred dollars ($200) in a calendar year shall file reports with the Secretary of State:(1) (A) No later than fifteen (15) days followin…

A.C.A. § 7-6-221Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

(a) Pursuant to rules to be adopted by the Department of Finance and Administration, a credit against individual Arkansas income taxes shall be allowed for money contributions made by the taxpayer in a taxable year to one (1) or more of the following:(1) A candidate seeking nomin…

(a) Within fifteen (15) calendar days after the end of each calendar quarter, each political party that meets the definition of political party stated in § 7-1-101 or that has met the petition requirements of § 7-7-205 shall file a quarterly report with the Secretary of State. (b…

(a) Municipalities, counties, and townships may establish reasonable limitations on:(1) Time periods that candidates for local office shall be allowed to solicit contributions;(2) Limits on contributions to local candidates at amounts lower than those set by state law; and(3) Vol…

Whenever a report becomes due on a day which is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the report shall be due the next day which is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday.

(a) (1) (A) To qualify as a county political party committee, the committee shall register with the Secretary of State within fifteen (15) days after accepting contributions during a calendar year that exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000) in the aggregate.(B) The registration sh…

(a) (1) (A) An independent expenditure committee shall register with the Secretary of State within fifteen (15) days after accepting contributions or making independent expenditures that exceed two hundred dollars ($200) in the aggregate during a calendar year.(B) Registration sh…

(a) A candidate may retain campaign signs, campaign literature, and other printed campaign materials that:(1) Were purchased by the campaign;(2) Were reported on the appropriate contribution and expenditure report for the campaign at the time of the purchase; and(3) Are retained …

(a) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution or disciplinary action if a person required to file a report under this subchapter amends the report within thirty (30) days of discovering or learning of an unintentional error in the report. (b) (1) The Arkansas Ethics Commission …

(a) The Secretary of State shall develop electronic reporting forms for campaign contribution and expenditure reports required under § 7-6-207, including without limitation:(1) A cover sheet for a reporting period;(2) Campaign contribution reports; and(3) Campaign expenditure rep…

(a) (1) A person required to file reports or register in electronic form under § 7-6-215 or § 7-6-220 may file reports or register in paper form under this section if:(A) The person does not have access to the technology necessary to submit reports or registration in electronic f…

(a) The Arkansas Ethics Commission shall review the timeliness of reports filed with the Secretary of State by all candidates for state or district office pursuant to § 7-6-207. (b) (1) If a candidate for state or district office has failed to file a required report, the commissi…

(a) The Arkansas Ethics Commission shall issue one (1) or more reporting calendars for use by candidates to identify when reports and other necessary filings are due in a calendar year. (b) The commission shall issue the reporting calendar for a calendar year no later than the De…

The name of no person shall be printed on the ballot in any general or special election in this state as a candidate for election to any office unless the person shall have been certified as a nominee selected pursuant to this subchapter.

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, nominees of any political party for United States Senate, United States House of Representatives, or state, district, county, township, or applicable municipal office to be voted upon at a general election shall be certifi…

(a) (1) A person desiring to have his or her name placed upon the ballot as an independent candidate without political party affiliation for any United States office other than President of the United States or Vice President of the United States or state, county, township, or di…

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, nominees of a political party to fill a vacancy in nomination, as defined in § 7-1-101, shall be declared by:(1) Certificate of the chair and secretary of any convention of delegates held following receipt of the Governor'…

(a) Nominees for special elections called for the purpose of filling a vacancy in office for a member of the United States House of Representatives, Lieutenant Governor, or for a member of the Senate or House of Representatives of the General Assembly shall be chosen as follows:(…

(a) A political party may fill a vacancy if:(1) A person is running unopposed in a preferential primary and cannot accept the nomination due to death; or(2) A person is running unopposed in a preferential primary and notifies the party that he or she will not accept the nominatio…

(a) The cost of political party primaries shall be borne by the State of Arkansas and shall be paid from an appropriation made to the State Board of Election Commissioners for that purpose. (b) (1) Within each county, the political party primary elections shall be conducted by th…

(a) Whenever any political party shall select by primary election party nominees as candidates at any general election for any United States, state, district, county, township, or municipal office, there shall be held a preferential primary election and a general primary election…

(a) The general primary election shall be held on the Tuesday four (4) weeks following the preferential primary election. (b) The preferential primary election shall be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in March. (c) (1) The party filing period shall be a one-week …

(a) A person who files as a candidate for nomination by a political party shall not be eligible to:(1) Be the nominee of any other political party for the same office during the primary election or the following general or special election; or(2) Be an independent candidate for t…

(a) (1) A group desiring to form a new political party shall do so by filing a petition with the Secretary of State.(2) The petition shall contain at the time of filing the signatures of a minimum of ten thousand (10,000) registered voters in the state.(3) The Secretary of State …

(a) A political party may impose a filing fee for candidates seeking nomination by that party. The filing fee for county, municipal, and township offices shall be fixed by the county committee, as authorized by the state executive committee. For all other races, the filing fee sh…

The election officials of primary elections shall be selected in the same manner as for general elections and shall be subject to the same requirements as provided for general elections.

The election precincts in all political party primary elections shall be the same as established by the county board of election commissioners for general elections.

(a) (1) The Secretary of State shall certify to all county boards of election commissioners full lists of the names of all candidates who have filed party certificates with him or her to be placed on the ballots in their respective counties at the preferential primary election no…

(a) The ballots of the primary election shall be provided by the county board of election commissioners. The form of the ballots shall be the same as is provided by law for ballots in general elections in this state. A different color ballot may be used to distinguish between pol…

(a) At each party primary and nonpartisan general election, each county board of election commissioners shall furnish a separate ballot for each political party containing:(1) The name of each person seeking nomination as a candidate of that political party;(2) The name of each c…

(a) Each political party may establish by party rules additional qualifications to those established by § 7-5-201 for eligibility to vote in primary elections of the party. (b) However, any additional qualifications established by a political party shall comply with the National …

(a) The procedure for voting in primary elections is the same as for general elections. (b) At the same time that the voter identifies himself or herself and the party primary or other election in which he or she intends to vote, the election official shall mark next to the voter…