Latest news with #TheArkansasBallotMeasureRightsAmendment
Axios
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Axios
AG Griffin rejects direct democracy ballot measure again
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin on Tuesday again rejected language for a proposed state constitutional amendment related to direct democracy through the referendum process. Why it matters: The state legislature has passed laws making the process of citizen-led ballot initiatives more burdensome in recent years, adding technical hurdles and effectively requiring groups to be well funded to gather petition signatures. Critics say many of these laws are counter to the state's motto: regnat populus, or "the people rule." The big picture: Arkansas voters can change or reject laws enacted by the state legislature through a citizen-initiated ballot process. Changes can be in the form of a proposed ballot initiative as a state statute (a change to a law) or a constitutional amendment (a more significant change to the state's constitution). They may also repeal legislation with a veto referendum. Driving the news: Griffin first rejected the proposed amendment in June, citing a 2025 law that requires the language to be at or below eighth-grade reading level according to the Flesch-Kincaid scale. Tuesday's rejection says the language ranks at ninth-grade level and that some proposed changes to the constitution are ambiguous. State of play:" The Arkansas Ballot Measure Rights Amendment" rejected by Griffin was filed by Protect AR Rights (PAR) and is the second proposal in Arkansas this year to address the referendum process. The first, named " An Amendment Concerning Constitutional Amendments, Initiated Acts, and Referendums" is backed by Arkansas' League of Women Voters (LWV) and Save AR Democracy. Griffin approved its language in May and organizers are gathering signatures. Both measures are nuanced, with differences and similarities but a few key points of note: While LWV's measure says any law dealing with the referendum process passed by the general assembly must be for a legitimate purpose, PAR's measure would give "the people the fundamental right" to make and repeal laws by the process. LWV's measure doesn't seek to reverse part of 2023's Act 236 that requires petition signatures to be collected in 50 counties rather than the previously required 15, but a lawsuit against the state in April seeks to address the issue. PAR's proposed amendment includes this provision. The measure by LWV automatically refers all new laws related to the referendum process made by the General Assembly to the voters for approval. PAR's doesn't. Yes, but: They're similar in that they both would eliminate some burdens for citizens in the process. Previously, canvassers signed an affidavit. The measures would change the affidavit to a declaration under penalty of perjury.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Revising direct democracy ballot measure to meet Arkansas law balancing act, drafter says
Northwest Arkansas lawyer Jennifer Waymack Standerfer and Arkansas Appleseed Executive Director Bobby Howard discuss a proposed constitutional amendment from the Protect AR Rights coalition to preserve direct democracy in Arkansas during a press conference at the state Capitol on May 19, 2025. (Sonny Albarado/Arkansas Advocate) The authors of a proposed constitutional amendment to protect Arkansas' direct democracy process are still revising their measure following the attorney general's rejection of their original draft last week. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said he could not certify The Arkansas Ballot Measure Rights Amendment because it failed to meet the eighth-grade reading level standard set in a new law. Act 602, which became law in April, prohibits the certification of a proposed ballot title with a reading level above eighth grade as determined by the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level formula. The test uses word complexity and sentence lengths to calculate what grade of education is needed to comprehend written material. During a virtual press conference Tuesday, Jennifer Waymack Standerfer, a Northwest Arkansas lawyer and drafter of the measure, said it's difficult to meet both the reading level provision and a requirement to not be misleading because the formula used to calculate the reading level assigns a higher grade to more complex words that she said are needed to properly convey the intent of the measure, such as 'fundamental right.' 'If I say right instead of fundamental right, there's a lot less syllables there and that drops my readability score, but I'm not being as transparent and open and honest with the public about what we're actually doing,' Standerfer said. 'The courts bounce around about rights and fundamental rights.' Sponsored by the Protect AR Rights coalition, the proposed measure would amend Article 5 Section 1 of the Arkansas Constitution, the section that governs the state's initiative and referendum process. It would designate as a 'fundamental right' the right of voters to propose laws and constitutional amendments that can be put to a statewide vote. Second Arkansas ballot measure rejected for failing to meet reading-level standard Asked if breaking the proposal's several sections into separate ballot measures would make it easier to meet the reading level standard, Emma Olson Sharkey, a partner at the Elias Law Group who specializes in voting rights and citizen-led ballot initiatives, said it's not necessarily the amount of policies or changes that are involved. 'It is the way that they're described, and even just that simple change (right vs. fundamental right), which would mean a lot to the people of Arkansas, wouldn't meet the standard that the Legislature has set, which is, in my view, ridiculous,' Sharkey said. Among its various provisions, the measure would require petition signatures be gathered from at least 15 counties instead of 50 and would explicitly prohibit the Arkansas General Assembly from amending or repealing a constitutional amendment approved by voters. Coalition members may consider removing some provisions and editing other language to meet the reading level requirement, Standerfer said. The drafting process has become a balancing act of meeting statutory requirements while also staying true to the intent of the measure, she said. 'All of the policies that we have in here are really, really crucial and really, really important, and if the Legislature is putting requirements on us that make us sacrifice content, then that is impeding upon the people's rights to legislate,' Standerfer said. 'They don't get to tell the people what content they get to legislate in law.' Various court interpretations of the Arkansas Constitution have said state lawmakers can amend an initiated act by a two-thirds majority vote, but not an amendment, Standerfer said. 'That being said, the case that says that essentially says 'well, we know what the Constitution says, but they couldn't have possibly meant that, that's crazy,'' Standerfer said. 'There are some lawyers who are concerned the current Supreme Court would reverse itself, and because of that and the concerns that have been raised, additional clarity to restate the law as it exists now is warranted and appropriate.' In an attorney general opinion issued in November, Griffin said the Arkansas Supreme Court in 1951 reasoned that the plain language of Amendment 7 gives the General Assembly the power to amend citizen-initiated constitutional amendments. But the court departed from the text because it didn't believe it was voters' intention to give lawmakers that power, he said. 'In my opinion, that decision employed an erroneous form of reasoning and was wrongly decided,' Griffin wrote. 'If this issue were raised today, I believe the Supreme Court would overturn that case and hold that the plain language controls.' During this year's legislative session, lawmakers proposed a bill that would have granted this authority to the General Assembly, but it died in the House. Legislators were successful, however, in passing several laws changing the state's initiative and referendum process, which prompted direct democracy-related ballot proposals from Protect AR Rights and the League of Women Voters of Arkansas. Direct democracy is the process through which Arkansans can propose new laws or constitutional amendments and put them to a statewide vote. Arkansas is one of 24 states that allows citizen-led initiatives, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The League's measure was rejected three times, including once for failing to meet the eighth-grade reading level requirement. Griffin substituted and certified the popular name and ballot title so it met the reading level requirement on May 21. That means the League can begin gathering signatures to try to place their measure on the 2026 ballot. The nonpartisan group will officially launch its statewide signature collection campaign Friday in Fayetteville. Court filings reveal opposition to intervening motion in Arkansas direct democracy lawsuit The organization also filed a lawsuit in April that challenges several of the new direct democracy laws. Protect AR Rights filed a motion to intervene so the coalition can challenge additional laws not included in the original lawsuit, including the reading-level law. Both the League and the state argued in their responses to the motion that Protect AR Rights lacks standing and is not entitled to intervene in the case. In the meantime, drafters of Protect AR Rights' ballot measure are continuing to solicit public input and hope to resubmit their revised proposal in the next week or so, Standerfer said. The attorney general's office declined the coalition's request for a meeting for feedback because of the pending litigation, she said. While the proposed ballot measures from Protect AR Rights and the League of Women Voters of Arkansas have the same general goal of preserving Arkansans' rights to propose laws and constitutional amendments, they do conflict in some areas, Standerfer said. Because of that, if both qualify for the ballot and are approved by the voters, the one with the most votes would become law, according to the state Constitution, she said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
