Last Friday, the day before the United States’ 250th anniversary, Protect AR Rights turned in over 108,000 signatures of registered Arkansas voters from all 75 counties supporting the Arkansas Ballot Measure Rights Amendment. These signatures are enough to qualify the amendment for the ballot this fall. As a member of the Protect AR Rights coalition, For AR People is delighted that so many Arkansans see the importance of protecting direct democracy and grateful for the hard work of volunteers and canvassers that collected signatures.
Here’s how the process should play out.
How We Got Here
Protect AR Rights felt this amendment was necessary because of the all-out assault on direct democracy the legislature waged during the 2025 session. Sen. Kim Hammer tried to functionally eliminate the right of the people to propose new laws and amendments while preserving the legislature’s right to do the same. For him, the state motto – The People Rule – represents his worst fear. He thinks Arkansans represent a threat to his power.
He is right, but that shouldn’t be cause for concern. The goal of our Constitution is to be sure that the people, not elected officials, have the final say.
Federal courts have struck down or paused the majority of these laws. Judge Timothy Brooks issued a scathing opinion last week upholding the First Amendment rights of Arkansans, though the state has said they’ll use more of our tax dollars to continue to defend these obviously unconstitutional laws.
Should the Arkansas Ballot Measure Rights Amendment be approved by voters this fall – if it makes the ballot, we’re confident they will – this case will likely become moot.
Where We Are Now
The Secretary of State now has 30 days to count the 108,000+ signatures. Temporary employees must ensure every signature represents a registered Arkansas voter, that voters only signed once, and that the signatures were collected in compliance with Arkansas law.
Protect AR Rights needs 90,704 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot this fall. If the coalition has gathered at least 68,028 valid signatures – 75% of that 90,000 – then it qualifies for what’s called a “cure period.” This means PAR will have 30 more days, starting from the day the Secretary of State notifies us we’ve made the cure period, to collect valid signatures and make up the 90,704 signatures needed to qualify.
We want to emphasize this: If you have been trained as a volunteer canvasser and have collected signatures, keep collected! These signatures can count for the cure period!
What Happens Next
If we make the cure period, then we continue to gather signatures. This process is expensive, so Protect AR Rights continues to need donations. You can donate here; as little as rounding up your spare change can make a big difference.
If, after the cure period, we’ve hit the 90,704 mark, then the amendment will be on voters’ ballots in November, and Arkansans will have a chance to enshrine one of our most important democratic rights into the state Constitution.
Bumps in the Road
However, as Arkansans saw in 2024 after the Supreme Court decided to invalidate the will of the voters and disqualify the Arkansas Abortion Amendment, the state makes it extremely difficult to get citizen-led ballot initiatives on the ballot. Opposition groups may file lawsuits challenging the validity of signatures or the way in which they were collected. The coalition is confident in our canvassers, but the deck is stacked against the people.
Secretary of State Jester has already made his disdain for the ballot initiative process clear. It’s likely he will look for any small bureaucratic skullduggery to justify tossing extra signatures.
We’ll know more soon.
Until then, donate if you can and keep collecting signatures!
