This weekend is one of your last chances to sign two citizen-led petitions that would appear on the November ballot. Ahead of the July 3 deadline, canvassers will be gathering signatures across the Little Rock metro area this weekend, including at the Arkansas Folklife Festival in North Little Rock (look for the Protect AR Rights / For AR Kids booth), as well as at Fassler Hall, El Sur Street Food Co and St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church.
Arkansas voters have used the state’s constitutional right to direct democracy to raise wages, legalize medical marijuana and nearly restore abortion rights — and the powers that be are not happy about it. Arkansas Times veteran writer Ernest Dumas penned an informative piece on recent Supreme Court attacks on these rights here, while Arkansas Public Policy Panel’s Bill Kopsky argued that lawmakers failing the public is as old as the state itself.
Nevertheless, the fight to protect and exercise our right to direct democracy continues.
One of the two ballot initiatives currently gathering signatures is the proposed Arkansas Ballot Measure Rights Amendment, which would roll back many of these restrictions lawmakers have placed on such initiatives in recent years. The second ballot initiative up for consideration is the Education Rights Amendment, which aims to establish equal standards between private and public schools while expanding access to pre-K and afterschool programs.
Signing opportunities include:
- Arkansas Folklife Festival in North Little Rock in North Little Rock, 100 Riverfront Park Drive, on Friday, June 26, 6-8 p.m.
- Arkansas Folklife Festival in North Little Rock, 100 Riverfront Park Drive, on Saturday, June 27, 6-8 p.m.
- El Sur Street Food Co in Little Rock, 1214 Main St., on Saturday, June 27, 10:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m.
- St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in Little Rock, 20900 Chenal Parkway, on Sunday, June 28, 12:30-3 p.m.
- Fassler Hall in Little Rock, 311 East Capitol Ave., on Sunday, June 28, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Both petitions are available at all signing locations. A full list of the locations where people can sign petitions across the state is available here. More information about Protect AR Rights and the direct democracy initiative is available on their website. More information about the Educational Rights Amendment is available on the ForARKids website.
To get their proposed amendments on the 2026 ballot, the groups need to collect at least 90,704 valid signatures per amendment prior to the July 3 deadline.
Elizabeth L. Cline is a staff reporter at the Arkansas Times and a Report for America Corps Member. Send tips to elizabethcline@arktimes.com.
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