(Editor’s Note: In an effort to inform voters about the issues that will be on the upcoming Nov. 3 general election ballot, the Herald is publishing a series of unbiased overviews put together by the Arkansas Public Policy Center, which is affiliated with the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension office in Little Rock.)
Issue 1 proposes changing the existing wording in Article 3 of the Arkansas Constitution about who can vote in Arkansas elections and adding specific language that people who don’t meet the criteria, specifically noncitizens, cannot vote in local and state elections.
It is being proposed by the state legislature with State Rep. David Ray of Maumelle and State Sen. John Payton of Wilburn serving as sponsors. If approved, it would become effective Jan. 1, 2027.
About 117,000 people out of the 3.1 million people living in Arkansas are not currently U.S. citizens, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey. The statistics include people who are lawful permanent residents, foreign students and other temporary migrants, people who are in the country with humanitarian protections, and unauthorized migrants
Ballot Title: An amendment to the Arkansas Constitution to create “The Citizens Only Voting Amendment”; to provide that only a citizen of the United States meeting the qualifications of an elector under the Arkansas Constitution may vote in an election in this state; and providing that a person who does not meet the qualifications of an elector under the Arkansas Constitution shall not be permitted to vote in any state or local election held in this state.
What Supporters Say
• Whether you say, ‘every citizen, any citizen or all citizens,’ none of those phrases are sufficient because they constitute a floor rather than a ceiling. A floor says that any citizens can vote but leaves room as we have discovered in other states for other people to be added to that list. By moving to only-citizen language …