Organizers of the Arkansas Ballot Measure Rights Amendment submitted petitions to the Arkansas Secretary of State’s Office, seeking to qualify the proposal for the November ballot. The proposed constitutional amendment aims to strengthen Arkansans’ rights to create and repeal laws through the citizen-led petition process.
Key Provisions
If passed, the amendment would require a two-thirds vote by lawmakers to amend or repeal an initiated act and would prevent lawmakers from altering voter-approved constitutional amendments. The proposal was initiated in response to new laws that supporters say have made it more difficult to place measures on the ballot.
Bill Kopsky, treasurer for Protect AR Rights, said, ‘We met that threshold in 62 counties, and we turned in signatures from all 75 counties in Arkansas. This was a statewide grassroots movement.’ Protect AR Rights organizers reported submitting 108,837 petition signatures, exceeding the 90,704 verified signatures required for the measure to qualify.
The initial review of the submitted signatures is expected to take about two weeks, and organizers are continuing to gather more signatures. If the measure qualifies for the November ballot, supporters noted that the amendment would also require lawsuits challenging approved ballot measures to be filed within 10 days of publication.
Original reporting: 40/29 / KHBS (NW Arkansas) — read the source article.
