Bearden shares 2022 Voter Guide at Chamber Breakfast
Rachel Bearden with the Hot Spring County office of the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service presented important information about the 2022 elections taking place nationwide on Nov. 8 to attendees at this month’s Malvern/ HSC Chamber Breakfast. Early voting began on Oct. 24 and can currently be done at the HSC Fairgrounds from 7: 30 a. m.- 7: 30 p. m.
The monthly meet- n- eat gathering of noted business and community leaders was held in the Great Room on the ASU Three Rivers campus on Oct. 20.
Chamber President Herman Grayer welcomed the attendees to the meeting, and Executive Director Lance Howell made the requisite introductions, although almost everyone in attendance knows Bearden well from her extensive involvement in the HSC Youth 4- H Program, the Chamber, and various civic organizations.
“Sometimes people forget that community and economic development is a huge part of what we do,” Bearden said of her team at the Extension Office. “One of the biggest programs that we do every year is the ballot issues.”
Bearden brought along with her the 2022 Voter Guide, Arkansas Ballot Issues booklet produced by the Public Policy Center at the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.
“How many of you know someone who has walked in to vote, and that’s the first time that they’ve read that ballot title that they are voting on?” Bearden asked the audience. “How many times have you read that ballot title for the first time and not understood it? Maybe you saw a few keywords there, but it all sounds like a bunch of jargon that might not be very clear.”
The 2022 Voter Guide was designed to help voters better understand the issues being put before them. It explores what each proposed measure means for
voters, how each measure differs from current legislation in Arkansas and similar laws in other states, the origins of each proposal, what proponents and supporters have to say about the subject, and when each legislative move would go into effect if passed.
“This is an unbiased, neutral explanation of what we will be voting on in November,” Bearden said.
The contents of the 2022 Voter Guide were explored in depth in an MDR article published earlier this month regarding County Clerk Sandy Boyette and Patti Griggs’ recent visit to the Lions Club to discuss similar voter and ballot information.
Both the County Clerk and the Extension Office do their best to inform the citizens of Hot Spring County about the issues they will be deciding in the November election, and both offices have copies of the 2022 Voter Guide freely available to the public.
“If you have questions, ask, because we want everyone to be educated in their decisions when they go to the polls in November,” Bearden said. “We aren’t here to tell you how to vote, we’re here to tell you what you’ll be voting on so you can make informed decisions as a voter.”
The Voter Guide outlines four issues voters will see. Issue Number 1 would allow state legislators to amend Article 5, Section 5 of the Arkansas Constitution to “give them authority to call special meetings of the legislature” at any time, if such a proposal receives joint agreement from the Speaker of the House and president of the Senate, or a two- thirds majority vote in favor of the move from both legislative bodies.
Currently, the Governor has sole authority to call special sessions. If Issue Number 1 passes, it goes into effect Nov. 9.
Issue Number 2 would require an increase in the percentage of votes needed to pass most statewide ballot issues from a simple majority is needed, but if passed, the “Constitutional Amendment and Ballot Initiative Reform Amendment” would require a 60 percent majority of the votes cast to pass constitutional amendments and citizen- proposed state legislation. If passed, it goes into effect Jan. 1, 2023.
Issue Number 3 would create the “Arkansas Religious Freedom Amendment,” which would change the current verbiage slightly to further prohibit state and local governments “from burdening the practice of religion in Arkansas unless the government shows there’s a compelling reason to do so and acts in the least restrictive way.”
“The simplest way to explain this is we are protecting our religious organizations from governmental overreach,” Bearden said. Some of the lingo leaves room for broad definitions. “This is changing it from an act to a constitutional amendment, which means the legislature would not be able to go and make changes without the voters being able to vote on those changes.”
Voting for Issue Number 3 would strike the word “substantial” from the current phrasing, “substantially burden,” and would remove exemptions for the Ark. Dept. of Corrections, Community Corrections, and jail/ law communities. The change would go into effect Nov. 9 if the proposed amendment it passed.
Issue Number 4 is a citizen- sponsored proposed amendment that would allow for the possession, personal use, and recreational consumption of cannabis. The amendment would allow growing and selling cannabis for non- medical purposes and grant existing medical growers and sellers appropriate licensing. It would also provide for 40 additional licenses; eliminate the existing sales tax on medicinal sales; introduce a tax on recreational sales; and eliminate the THC cap on edible items and marijuana- infused drinks.
Another hot- button item on the ballot for local voters will be whether to allow the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors within county limits. A local community action group dubbed Vote HSC Wet collected enough signatures to reserve a spot for the issue on the ballot, and now it’s up to those interested parties to return to the polls in a few weeks to push the item through the rest of the way.
“As of 2021, 44 of Arkansas’ 75 counties allowed sales of alcohol,” according to data presented in a supplemental booklet that outlines the specifics related to the wet/ dry issue in HSC. If passed, the sale and manufacture of alcohol in HSC would be regulated and granted license approval “by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division and Arkansas law.”
A closer examination of all the issues is necessary to make an informed decision at the polls in November. Pick up a copy of the 2022 Voter Guide at the Hot Spring County Courthouse, the HSC office of the Ark. Cooperative Extension Service, or the HSC Election Commission Office. For more information about the issues on the ballot, call the County Clerk’s office at 501- 332- 2291, the Extension Service at 501- 332- 5267, or the HSC Election Commission at 501- 229- 1666.