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Arkansas Voting Rights Restoration for Felons Initiative (2020)
| Arkansas Voting Rights Restoration for Felons Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 3, 2020 | |
| Topic Suffrage | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin Citizens |
The Arkansas Voting Rights Restoration for Felons Initiative was not on the ballot in Arkansas as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020.
Measure design
This measure would have restored the right to vote for most people with prior felony convictions, except those convicted of murder or a felony sexual offense, upon completion of their sentences.[1]
Text of measure
Popular name
The popular name for this initiative would have been as follows:[1]
| “ | Arkansas Felon Voting Restoration Amendment of 2020[2] | ” |
Full text
The full text of the measure is available here.
Path to the ballot
The state process
In Arkansas, the number of signatures required to qualify an initiated constitutional amendment for the ballot is equal to 10 percent of the votes cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election. Proponents must collect signatures equaling at least half of the designated percentage of gubernatorial votes in at least 50 of the state's counties. Signatures remain valid until the date of the next general election following the certification of ballot language. Signature petitions must be submitted four months prior to the election at which the measure is to appear.
The requirements to get initiated constitutional amendments certified for the 2020 ballot:
- Signatures: 89,151 valid signatures were required.
- Deadline: The deadline to submit signatures was July 3, 2020.
If the secretary of state certifies that enough signatures were submitted in a petition, the initiative is put on the ballot. If a petition fails to meet the signature requirement, but the petition has at least 75 percent of the valid signatures needed, petitioners have 30 days to collect additional signatures or demonstrate that rejected signatures are valid.
Details about this initiative
- Roderick Greer Talley filed this initiative on November 20, 2019.[3]
- Sponsors did not publish the initiative in a newspaper of general statewide circulation before the June 3, 2020, deadline. Therefore, the initiative did not qualify for the 2020 ballot.[4][5]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, "Arkansas Felon Voting Restoration Amendment of 2020," accessed November 20, 2019
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, "State Ballot Issues in Arkansas," accessed Novmeber 25, 2019
- ↑ Arkansas Secretary of State, "Arkansas Initiative and Referendum Handbook," accessed June 10, 2020
- ↑ University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, "State Ballot Issues in Arkansas," accessed June 10, 2020
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State of Arkansas Little Rock (capital) |
|---|---|
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