Ballot measures approved by Arkansas voters

Election officials expected a record voter turnout in Arkansas on Nov. 8. However, of the 1,759,974 registered voters in the state, 64.65 percent cast ballots. That’s on par with turnout during past presidential elections.

According to state records, the state saw a 66.65 percent turnout in 2012; 64.52 percent in 2008; and 62.62 percent in 2004.

According to a Nov. 29, 2016, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article Arkansas’ largest turnout in a presidential election year was 72.13 percent in 1992, when then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton was first elected president.

More than half of the 1.1 million ballots cast this year, were cast during the early voting period, according to Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin’s office.

In addition to electing a new president, Arkansas voters had four statewide issues to decide on this year’s ballot. Three of the four were referred to voters by the state legislature.

Issue 1 was a proposed constitutional amendment concerning the terms, election and eligibility of elected officials; Issue 2 was a constitutional amendment to allow the governor to retain his or her powers and duties when absent from the state; and Issue 3 was a constitutional amendment concerning job creation, job expansion and economic development.

Issue 6, known as the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2016, was placed on the ballot after a citizen group gathered signatures from more than 84,859 registered voters from at least 15 counties across the state, according to the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Services’ Public Policy Center.

Three other issues were struck from the ballot by the Arkansas Supreme Court for having misleading ballot titles or signature deficiencies. The following summaries provide additional information about the issues voters passed.

Issue 1

State legislators referred An Amendment to the Arkansas Constitution Concerning the Terms, Election and Eligibility of Elected Officials to voters, The amendment allows certain countyelected officials to serve four-year terms rather than the current two-year terms; prevents certain county-elected officials from also holding a civil office; allows unopposed candidates to be elected without their name appearing on the ballot; and defines what “infamous crime” means in regards to who cannot hold an elected position. County officials elected in 2016 will serve a two-year term. Those elected in 2018 will begin serving four-year terms. Issue 1 passed with 70.22 percent of the vote.

Issue 2

State legislators also referred A Constitutional Amendment to Allow the Governor to Retain His or Her Powers and Duties When Absent from the State to this year’s ballot. Modern technology allows the governor to remain connected to the state and do business when he travels. Therefore, the phrase “absence from the state” will be deleted from Amendment 6 to the Arkansas Constitution, and the governor will remain in charge when he or she leaves the state.

This measure passed with 72.42 percent of the vote.

Issue 3

Legislators also referred Issue 3 — An Amendment to the Arkansas Constitution Concerning Job Creation, Job Expansion, and Economic Development — to the ballot. The issue passed with 65.34 percent of the vote. As a result, several changes will be made to the state Constitution: remove the limitation on the amount of general obligation bonds the state may issue to pay for economic development projects; allow a county, city, town or other municipality to obtain or provide money for other entities to support economic development projects or services; clarity the authority of counties and municipalities to issue bonds for economic development projects instead of industrial development purposes; allow legislators to authorize the use of other taxes beyond special taxes to pay off municipal- and county-bond debt; remove a requirement that municipal and county bonds may be sold at public sale; and allows cities, towns, school districts and counties to form compacts for economic development projects.

Issue 6

Voters approved The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2016 by a 53.11 percent to 46.89 percent margin. Several changes will be made to the state Constitution to ensure: • Legalize regulated medical use of marijuana under Arkansas law, though it remains illegal under federal law; • Establish a system for growing, acquiring and distributing marijuana for medical purposes; • Identify medical conditions that qualify a person to use medical marijuana; • Protect qualified patients, caregivers, growers, providers and doctors from arrest, prosecution, penalty or discrimination under Arkansas law, but not federal law; • Direct the state Department of Health to establish rules related to medical access of marijuana and the Alcoholic Beveral Control Commission to establish rules related to growing and selling marijuana for medical purposes; • Establish the Medical Marijuana Commission to administer and regulate the licensing of cultivation and dispensaries; • Allow cities and counties to enact zoning regulations regarding where dispensaries and cultivation facilities may locate; • Allow cities and counties to prohibit dispensaries and cultivation facilities only if approved by voters in a local election; • Apply state and local taxes to the sale of medical marijuana and require that state tax revenues be used to offset the state’s cost of administering the law and be distributed to various state workforce and education programs; • Prohibit anyone other than a licensed dispensary or cultivation facility from growing marijuana for medical purposes; • Permit legislators to change some sections of the amendment — not the sections legalizing medical use of marijuana and the number of dispensaries and cultivation facilities — with a 2/3 vote.

Issue 6 had several deadlines for action attached to it. For example, the Medical Marijuana Commission must be appointed within 30 days of the amendment going into effect (Nov. 8). The commission must begin accepting applications for dispensaries and cultivation facilities by June 1, 2017. The Department of Health has 120 days to adopt rules for considering applications for registry identification cards for qualified users. And state legislators, who will convene in regular session on Jan. 9, 2017, have until Feb. 8, 2017, to file bills proposing constitutional amendments for the 2018 ballot.

— Information on these issues was provided in The 2016 Voter Guide published by the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Services’ Public Policy Center.