Your Arkansas Ballot: What issues could we see on the November 2024 election ballot?

Issue 1 is identified by the popular name "Allowing State Lottery Proceeds to Fund Vocational or Technical School Scholarships for Arkansans." It is the only ballot item that has been officially qualified for the November election. 

If passed, this amendment would allow "lottery proceeds" to go toward scholarships and grants to Arkansans enrolled in colleges or universities (two-year or four-year), a vocational-technical school, or a technical institute. These schools can be either private or public. 

State Rep. Robin Lundstrum and State Sen. Jane English sponsored the proposal. 

For the complete text of the ballot issue, click here. 

Issues collecting signatures to qualify

Several organizations have gone through the first phase of getting their issue on a ballot by getting the initiative's language approved by the attorney general. However, they're still in the process of getting enough certified signatures from Arkansans before the July 2024 deadline.

Abortion amendment

The Arkansas Abortion Amendment would prohibit the state from banning abortions within the first 18 weeks of pregnancy, or in the instance of rape, incest, or fatal fetal anomalies. 

Instead of only allowing abortions to save the mother when medically necessary, the ballot would extend protection to pregnant women with a physical disorder, illness, or injury such as:

• Any life-endangering disorders, illnesses, or injuries caused by the pregnancy.
• Any situation where the pregnancy could pose a danger to cell growth or any of these systems:
  • Respiratory
  • Circulatory
  • Endocrine
  • Reproductive
  • Nervous

Since Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin approved the ballot title on Jan. 23, the co-sponsors of the bill, For AR People and Arkansans For Limited Government (AFLG) have been in the process of collecting signatures to get the amendment on the ballot.

Samuel Watson with For AR People says "We've been saying this whole time this isn't a left or right issue ... we have to collect 90,704 signatures ... It can be particularly difficult to get volunteers out in some of these rural counties."

You can read the full proposed amendment by entering the opinion number (2024-004) here.

Marijuana amendment

The Arkansas Medical Cannabis Amendment of 2024 would expand Arkansans' access to medical marijuana by allowing more healthcare professionals to prescribe the drug. 

Healthcare professionals include: 

• Medical and osteopathic doctors
• Nurse practitioners
• Physicians' assistants
• Pharmacists

The measure would also expand the conditions treated by weed. Qualifying medical conditions included in Amendment 98 of 2016 will remain, but any condition that a "health care practitioner considers debilitating to a patient that might be alleviated by the use of usable marijuana."

Under the measure, access to medical marijuana cards would be expanded to non-Arkansas residents. It would also extend the expiration date of these cards from one year to three years. For those with existing cards, two years of use would be added. 

The measure seeks to amend Article 5 to ensure no constitutional amendment would be amended or repealed by the legislature "unless approved by the people" of Arkansas. 

A trigger law is also included that if federal law ends up prohibiting marijuana use, Arkansas would still allow the purchase and possession of "usable marijuana" up to 1 ounce. 

The bill's sponsors are now beginning to collect signatures to qualify the amendment after Griffin approved its language on Feb. 20. 

For the full opinion and proposed ballot amendment, click here. 

Absentee voting amendment

Under a lengthy ballot title, the amendment would "set the time for absentee voting, create absentee voting procedures, determine the manner in which absentee ballots are counted or tabulated, and ensure that elections cannot be conducted in this state using an internet, Bluetooth, or wireless connection."

The measure seeks to only allow absentee ballots to be distributed within 30 days before Election Day, requiring the county clerks to distribute them to only requesting and qualified voters. 

It also sets the terms for who is allowed to submit an absentee ballot. This includes:

• People who are not physically present in the county they are registered to vote in
• Hospitalization
• Incarceration
• In a long-term care facility 

The bill also: 

• Protect information about people requesting absentee ballots
• Require absentee ballots to be counted on Election Day before in-person votes are counted
• Prohibit the use of internet, Bluetooth, or wireless connection to conduct elections

The ballot title was approved on Jan. 12. 

For the full proposed ballot, click here. 

Government transparency amendments

A collection of Arkansas transparency amendments was approved by Griffin on Jan. 24. 

Arkansas Citizens for Transparency began submitting proposals to Griffin in September. Their goal is to see Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) laws protected by the state's constitution, as they're currently not in the constitution. 

The AG rejected previous versions of the group's proposals because he said the language wasn't clear enough. After several rejections, the group sued Tim Griffin in a suit that has since been dropped. 

Now, the group is collecting signatures for the following amendments and one state law: 

• The Arkansas Government Openness Amendment (full opinion here)
• The Arkansas Government Disclosure Amendment (full opinion here)
• The Open Meetings and Open Records in State and Local Government Amendment (full opinion here)
• The Arkansas Government Transparency Amendment (full opinion here)
• The Arkansas Government Disclosure Act (full opinion here)

The group is currently collecting signatures for each ballot item. 

Act to exempt tax on feminine hygiene products, diapers

This act would exempt sales and use tax for feminine hygiene products and children and adult diapers. 

Feminine products include: 

• Tampons
• Pantyliners
• Menstrual cups
• Sanitary napkins 
• Any other product associated with "the human menstrual cycle"

Griffin approved the proposal on Oct. 10, 2023. The full proposed ballot and opinion is available here. 

Antique license plate act

This bill would change the year model requirement to get Antique Tags for a vehicle in Arkansas from a minimum of 45 years to a minimum of 25 years. 

This was approved by Griffin on Feb. 2. For the proposal and opinion, click here. 

Related: 

Watch 5NEWS on YouTube.

Download the 5NEWS app on your smartphone:

• iPhone app
• Android app

Stream 5NEWS 24/7 on the 5+ app: How to watch the 5+ app on your streaming device

To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com and detail which story you're referring to.