Some Do, Some Don't ?
Citizen referendum signature gathering gets more complicated
Late in November U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks entered a temporary injunction to stop plaintiffs League of Women Voters of Arkansas, Save AR Democracy, Protect AR Rights, and For AR Kids from having to comply with several of GOP Senator Kim Hammer’s new restrictive citizen referendum bills.
Republican voters howled and whined all over social media as the Republican-majority state legislature passed bill after bill, but Democrats took action and filed suit to stop the kneecapping of our citizen referendum process spearheaded by Senator Hammer (who’s now a well-funded Secretary of State candidate).
Several groups are currently seeking signatures to place their items on the 2026 ballot. How is it “fair” that Brooks’ order means only some of those groups must follow those onerous restrictions while plaintiffs do not?
Back story: Arkansas Republicans launched an all-out assault on the citizen referendum process a few years back, opposing the out-of-state money that has backed recent constitutional amendments “brought by the people,” most notably “abortion as a right,” medical marijuana, and the Pope County casino.
Of course, it’s the Democrats pushing these issues, and those campaigns are certainly not organic. Given its propensity for lawfare, it’s obvious that the Left would go to court over the Republicans’ restrictions on the process.
However, it’s a real shame that Republicans’ only solution is to kill off the whole process — for all the people — in order to stop the incursion of out-of-state interests who “don’t represent Arkansans.” And, now the Arkansas Supreme Court has overturned a 74-year-old decision that will now allow the Legislature to repeal or overturn citizen-led legislation with a 2/3 vote!
Whadaya say now? What’s the alternative?