Two Arkansas civic action groups will kick off a town hall tour Tuesday in Little Rock to promote a direct democracy ballot initiative they hope to place on the 2026 ballot, according to a news release.
The event will be held at First United Methodist Church of Little Rock at 6 p.m. and will feature a panel from the Arkansas Public Policy Panel and Citizens First Congress to answer questions about the ballot measure. The town hall is sponsored by ballot question committee Protect AR Rights and its coalition partner For AR Kids.
Three other town halls are planned – Fort Smith on Sept. 23, Conway on Oct. 14 and Clinton on Nov. 4.
The coalition is seeking to roll back 13 laws targeting Arkansas’ direct democracy process that passed during the 2025 legislative session. The laws generally imposed more requirements on ballot committees trying to put issues to voters at the ballot box.
While proponents of the legislation said the changes are necessary to safeguard the direct democracy process, Protect AR Rights and other organizations opposed to the laws argue they are overly restrictive and interfere with citizens’ rights.
Those new laws have already posed obstacles to those wishing to roll them back – specifically Act 602 of 2025, which prohibits the attorney general from certifying a ballot title if it is above an eighth grade reading level. Protect AR Rights – one of two organizations with approved ballot titles relating to the direct democracy laws – had its title certified in July after two previous rejections.
As opposed to lawmaking by elected officials, the direct democracy process allows Arkansas citizens to propose new laws or constitutional amendments and place them on the ballot for a statewide vote. It also allows citizens to attempt to repeal legislation by the same process. Arkansas is one of 24 states that allow citizen-led initiatives, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Protect AR Rights’ proposed ballot measure would repeal several changes made during the session by explicitly prohibiting Arkansas legislators from amending or repealing a constitutional amendment approved by voters, requiring voters to be notified if their petition signature will be disqualified and given an opportunity to correct any problems, and requiring signatures to be gathered from at least 15 counties instead of 50.
In order for an organization to put its proposed legislation or constitutional amendment to voters, it must have its ballot title certified by the attorney general, who determines whether the title meets the requirements stipulated in the state constitution and state law. Once the title is certified, ballot committees must gather a certain number of signatures in order for the measure to appear on the ballot.
The League of Women Voters of Pulaski County launched its effort to collect signatures for a proposed 2026 direct democracy ballot measure on Aug. 26, proposed by ballot committee Save AR Democracy, the group said last month.
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