Are We Having Fun Yet? The Effort to Stifle Election Law in Arkansas
News and Analysis on the 2025 Legislative Session
Feb 27, 2025
NEWS and ANALYSIS. February 27, 2025, in Little Rock.
NEWS. Senator Kim Hammer, also known in some circles as Senator Kim Kitty, is at it again. Hammer has proposed several bills designed to chill the constitutional right for citizens to propose their own laws. All of these are a direct response to citizen led ballot measures in the 2024 November election cycle.
Apparently, in small town Warren, Arkansas, there is a pastor’s wife who does not bother to read the things she is about to sign. The pastor’s wife is deeply upset that some liberal outside of the Piggly Wiggly tricked her into signing the abortion ballot measure by telling her it was about women’s health.
Because this person was not intelligent or astute enough to read what she was about to sign, we must now have a law to protect this person from her own stupidity and incompetence. Welcome SB210. Now for all the 76,000ish signatures that must be gathered, the canvasser must read the ballot title to the person signing before they sign.
Timmy over at the Attorney General’s office loves to kill ballot measures that he does not like. To avoid that, smart lawyers with the FOIA proponents submitted “shotgun” measures, which means that they submitted four at a time on the same subject. Literally, throwing it at the wall to see what sticks.
But Timmy Kitty does not like to do work even though our tax dollars fund his habits. Let me introduce you to HB1221. Now, if you shotgun the AG’s office, he does not have to review any of the measures. That’s progress.
One really, really bright lawyer noticed a distinction between domicile and residency. One can have many residences, but only one domicile. Said lawyer approved moving people from other states into Arkansas to canvass for countywide ballot measures. They lived in a hotel, and the supreme court has already said you can live in a hotel.
Enter HB 1574. Now, a canvasser must be a resident AND domiciled in the county for which they seek signatures. Can you imagine how that will impact poor, rural counties?
Finally, we end with a high note. Senator Kim Kitty has announced he is running for the Secretary of State’s office. Because he and his colleagues were not smart enough to ask the right questions of the right people on affidavits they think were altered, we get SB212.
SB212 would create the “document validity division” in the SOS’s office. This group would be a law enforcement agency with subpoena powers. For senator Kitty, this would be his own private police force, which I have previously compared to the gestapo. Overlooked were the requirements of thirteen weeks of academy training, quarterly range qualifications, firearm and ammunition costs, and required continuing education.
Senator Kitty proposed that this would not be a “real” law enforcement agency but just an investigative arm of the SOS, even though he called it a law enforcement agency in the bill. I am not sure that even he understands that rank tautology.
Reasonable minds prevailed and SB212 died in committee. A list of the majority of election bills are below.
OPINION. I know what it is like to watch your bills die in committee. This one had it coming. MeOW baby.
| BILL | DESCRIPTION | STATUS |
| SB207
|
REQUIRE A CANVASSER TO DISCLOSE THAT PETITION FRAUD IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. | ON THE GOVERNOR’S DESK |
| SB208 | REQUIRE A CANVASSER TO REQUEST PHOTO IDENTIFICATION BEFORE OBTAINING A SIGNATURE; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. | HOUSE AMENDED. OUT OF COMMITTEE. AT THE DESK ON THE SENATE FLOOR |
| SB209 | TO DISQUALIFY SIGNATURES OBTAINED BY A CANVASSER IF THE SOS FINDS FRAUD OR FORGERY BY A PREPONDERNCE OF EVIDENCE. | PASSED AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE. OUT OF COMMITTEE AS AMENDED. AT THE DESK ON THE SENATE FLOOR |
| SB210 | TO REQUIRE THE SIGNER TO READ THE BALLOT TITLE OF THE PETITION IN THE PRESENCE OF A CANVASSER; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. | PASSED IN THE SENATE. TRANSMITTED TO HOUSE. REFERRED TO STATE AGENCIES COMMITTEE. |
| SB211 | TO REQUIRE A CANVASSER TO SUBMIT AN AFFIDAVIT BEFORE SIGNATURES CAN BE COUNTED; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. | AT THE DESK ON THE SENATE FLOOR |
| SB212 | TO CREATE THE DOCUMENT VALIDITY DIVISION AS A LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY WITHIN THE SOS. | DIED IN COMMITTEE |
| SB291 | TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING COMPLAINTS OF ELECTION LAW VIOLATIONS; AND TO AMEND THE DEADLINES FOR COMPLAINTS OF ELECTION LAW VIOLATIONS. | IN STATE AGENCIES COMMITTEE |
| SB293 | TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE REQUIRED POSTINGS AT A POLLING SITE; AND TO AMEND THE LIST CONCERNING REQUIRED POSTING OF NOTICES, INFORMATION, AND MATERIAL AT A POLLING SITE ON ELECTION DAY. | IN STATE AGENCIES COMMITTEE (SENATE) |
| SB294 | TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING ELECTION AUDITS; AND TO ALLOW THE STATE BOARD OF ELECTION COMMISSIONERS TO AUDIT A COUNTY IN THE PRECEDING ELECTION IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES. | PASSED COMMITTEE. AT THE DESK ON THE SENATE FLOOR. STILL HAS TO GO TO THE HOUSE AND ITS COMMITTEES |
| SB295 | TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING APPROPRIATION FOR ELECTION EXPENSES; AND TO ALLOW COMPENSATION FOR A CERTIFIED ELECTION MONITOR AS AN ELECTION EXPENSE. | PASSED COMMITTEE. AT THE DESK ON THE SENATE FLOOR. STILL HAS TO GO TO THE HOUSE AND ITS COMMITTEES |
| SB296 | TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE DESIGNATION OF AN EARLY VOTING LOCATION BY THE COUNTY CLERK. | PASSED COMMITTEE. AT THE DESK ON THE SENATE FLOOR. STILL HAS TO GO TO THE HOUSE AND ITS COMMITTEES |
| SB299 | TO REQUIRE A PERSON ASSISTING A VOTER TO PRESENT PHOTO IDENTIFICATION; AND TO REQUIRE A STAFF MEMBER TO WITNESS AN ADMINISTRATOR ASSISTING A RESIDENT OF A LONG-TERM RESIDENTIAL CARE FACILITY WITH ABSENTEE VOTING. | PASSED COMMITTEE. AT THE DESK ON THE SENATE FLOOR. STILL HAS TO GO TO THE HOUSE AND ITS COMMITTEES |
| SB308 | TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING A WRITE-IN CANDIDATE; AND TO REMOVE REFERENCES TO A WRITE-IN CANDIDATE | PASSED COMMITTEE. AT THE DESK ON THE SENATE FLOOR. STILL HAS TO GO TO THE HOUSE AND ITS COMMITTEES
|
| BILL | DESCRIPTION | STATUS |
| HB1221 | TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING INITIATIVES, REFERENDA, AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS (FOIA TARGETED, CAN’T RESUSE SIGNATURES IN A SUBSEQUENT ELECTION CYCLE); AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. | SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR. NOW ACT 153 |
| HB1222 | TO REQUIRE THE ATTORNEY GENERAL TO REVIEW BALLOT TITLES FOR CONFLICTS WITH THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND FEDERAL STATUTES; AND TO PROHIBIT THE SUBMISSION OF CONFLICTING INITIATIVE PETITIONS AND REFERENDUM PETITIONS. | SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR. NOW ACT 154 |
| HB1574 | TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING CANVASSERS; AND TO REQUIRE DOMICILE IN ARKANSAS. A CLINT LANCASTER-CONRAD REYNOLDS-AVII ACT. | IN STATE AGENCIES COMMITTEE (HOUSE). STILL HAS TO GO BEFORE THE HOUSE AND THEN TO SENATE AND COMMITTEES. NOT CURRENTLY ON THE CALENDER |
Attorney. America First. Sued Hunter Biden for child support. Represented President Trump in the 2020 Wisconsin election challenge. Former attorney for the Wisconsin Special Counsel. An official “Tough Cookie” per President Trump.
This is a waste of time on a long list of bills that don’t really impact election other than thwarting canvassers from running petitions when the real issue is faulty machines that steal elections. no congressman will touch that issue. I hope Trump overthrows the states stance on machines now that it’s proven they were designed to create election fraud and steal elections