Arkansans will be voting on whether to allow casino gaming at four locations after the Arkansas Supreme Court rejected two court challenges Thursday over the wording of
Issue 4.
The court also
upheld a state law that requires Arkansans to show ID when voting to prove their voter registration. The vote was 5-2.
Legislators passed
Act 633 in the 2017 legislative session. The state law was in addition to their decision to refer
Issue 2 to voters this Election Day.
Issue 2 proposes to add photographic identification to the state constitution as a requirement to vote in Arkansas. The proposed constitutional amendment was seen as a way to enact Voter ID in case Act 633 was found unconstitutional.
A previous state law requiring voters to show identification was found unconstitutional in 2014. A difference between that law and Act 633 is that Act 633 requires identification in order to prove voter registration, a process the state legislature has more authority over regulating. The 2017 state law also allows voters without identification to cast a provisional ballot and allow them to sign an affidavit swearing that they are who they say they are.
No one has filed a lawsuit seeking to stop votes on Issue 2 like they did with the other four statewide ballot issues.
The casino gaming amendment faced two lawsuits seeking to prevent votes from counting. Both lawsuits said the wording of Issue 4 was misleading to voters.
"We believe that the popular name and ballot title of Issue No. 4 give voters a fair understanding of the issues presented and the scope and significance of the proposed changes in law, are free of any misleading tendency or partisan coloring, and will allow voters to reach an intelligent and informed decision for or against the proposal and understand the consequences of his or her vote," the Court stated in its unanimous opinion in
Knight v Martin.
Read the two Issue 4 lawsuits and Arkansas Supreme Court opinions below:
Counties have already printed their paper ballots and programmed their electronic voting machines, so the issues will appear on the ballot. The Arkansas Supreme Court will be deciding whether votes for or against those issues will count.
