What Are Ballot Initiatives?
Usually, the state legislature creates bills that they vote into law.
Ballot initiatives give us the
POWER
to do that for ourselves.
Arkansas is one of only
15 states
with a truly
direct democracy.
How Do Ballot Initiatives Work?
First, citizens start a petition initiative, then gather signatures from Arkansans.
Petition initiatives can make changes to state law or make an amendment to our state constitution. Citizens must file their ballot issue with the Arkansas Secretary of State and collect enough voter signatures to qualify the proposed measure for the statewide ballot.
Once measures have met the requirements to be placed on the ballot, voters will vote in a November election to enact or reject the measure.
In addition to citizen-led ballot initiatives described above, the Arkansas State Legislature can also put up to 3 measures on our statewide ballot.
These are called legislatively-referred ballot initiatives or referendums.
Then we
VOTE!
Ballot issue synonyms:
Ballot measure
Ballot initiative
Ballot question
Proposition
or prop
