Arkansas Ballot Issues Newsletter

December 2022

2022 Recap and Gearing Up for 2024

For the first time in 62 years, Arkansas voters rejected all statewide ballot issues on their ballot.

Yet the practice of skipping over ballot issues when voting continued. You can tell by looking at the number of ballots cast versus how many votes each of the four issues received. Voters skipped over all four measures.

The Secretary of State's Office reported a final voter turnout of 50.8% in the 2022 General Election, but only 47% of voters made a decision about Issue 1.

More than 54,000 voters skipped Issue 1, which asked voters to give legislators the ability to call themselves into special sessions. Fewer voters skipped Issue 4, which would have legalized marijuana sales.

Blog Post: Thousands of Arkansans Skipped Ballot Issues

Research has shown that voters who don't know the outcome of an amendment will skip over it or vote against it because they're more familiar with the status quo.

View Arkansas Election Results

With all counties now reported, we can compare voter turnout across the 75 counties.

Voter turnout ranged from 33% to 63% in Arkansas counties. One county had the lowest turnout for the second time in recent midterm elections. Overall, the state reported a 50.81% voter turnout, with 914,223 votes cast.

Blog Post: The 2022 Election - Where Did Arkansas Voters Turnout the Most?

The number of voter signatures for citizen initiatives is tied to the number of people who voted for governor in the last election. Governor candidates received a combined 907,033 votes.

This means 2024 ballot issue campaigns will have to collect at least 72,562 voter signatures for proposed state laws and 90,703 voter signatures for proposed constitutional amendments for the next election.

The Arkansas Legislative Ballot Issue Process Set to Start As Lawmakers Meet in January

State representatives and senators making up the 94th General Assembly will kick off a new year at noon, Jan. 23, 2023.

Lawmakers have already started filing proposed laws for consideration in the new legislative session, but as of today they haven't filed any 2023 ballot issue proposals.

They have until Feb. 8 to file "House Joint Resolutions" and "Senate Joint Resolutions" as the proposed amendments are known.

View The Bills Filed So Far

Members of the two chambers' committees on State Agencies & Governmental Affairs will eventually narrow down the proposed constitutional amendments.

Legislators filed 43 proposals for the 2022 ballot. Excluding the three ballot issues this year, topics included casino gaming, the court system and lawsuits, elections, the highway commission, schools and education, taxes and public debt, and tenant rights.

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2022 Arkansas Election Dates

Dec. 6 - Runoff election, if needed. The Arkansas Advocate, a new online newspaper, has compiled a statewide list of runoff elections.

PPC In the Media

Below is a selection of recent Public Policy Center media coverage:

KUAR/KUAF

Kristin Higgins tells KUAR host Michael Hibblen about what election data tells us about the rejection of Arkansas ballot issues, and dives into voter turnout rates. "We actually had about 39% of the number of adults living in Arkansas turn out," she said.

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The Public Policy Center was established in 2004 to provide Arkansans with timely, credible, unaligned and research-based information and education about public issues. Public issues are defined as pressing and emerging issues that involve multiple points of view and have widespread consequences.

Our goals are to:

Increase citizen knowledge, awareness and understanding of public issues;
Enhance public participation in decisions regarding public issues, and
Help citizens craft, evaluate and implement alternative solutions to public issues.

We are part of the Community, Professional and Economic Development unit at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service in Little Rock.

News & Notes Volume 9, Issue 16. This e-mail newsletter is shared with Cooperative Extension Service agents, subscribers from the general public and election officials or educators identified by the Public Policy Center. To unsubscribe, click below on "instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe."

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