League of Women Voters of Arkansas v. Jester

Since 1910, Arkansas voters have possessed the right to the ballot initiative. Voters were given the right to pass ordinary statutes as well as state constitutional amendments via direct popular vote. Arkansans have exercised these rights consistently, amending the state constitution over 100 times through ballot initiatives since the system began in the state. Laws or constitutional amendments may be directly proposed to voters by collecting a legally sufficient number of signatures on petitions and following a set process. 

Since 2012, numerous laws have been enacted by the Arkansas legislature to restrict the ballot initiative process, attacking direct democracy in the state. Among these were the following restrictions:  

Ark. Code Ann. § 7-9-601(d) – Prohibitions on certain people with felony convictions and 15 other listed offences from collecting petition signatures, regardless of how long ago the offenses occurred. 

Ark. Code Ann. § 7-9-103(a)(2)(6)  – A ban on non-Arkansas residents from collecting petition signatures 

Ark. Code Ann. § 7-9-113(a)(2)(A) - Requiring that the petition sponsors reimburse the Secretary of State within 30 days after being notified of the final cost of publication. 

Act 218 of 2025 – Requiring a canvasser gathering petition signatures to disclose to a potential petitioner that petition fraud is a criminal offense before the petitioner signs, either in writing or verbally. Failure to provide a potential petitioner this notice is a criminal offense.  

Act 240 of 2025 – Requires a canvasser to view a potential petitioner’s photo ID before having them sign the petition. Failure to do so by the canvasser is a crime. 

Act 274 of 2025- Requiring that a person signing a petition read the ballot title in the presence of the canvasser or have the canvasser read the ballot title out loud and certify this has occurred. A canvasser must certify this has been done and is guilty of a crime if this act did not actually take place 

On April 21, 2025, the League of Women Voters of Arkansas (LWV Arkansas), Save Arkansas Democracy, and two individual voters filed a federal lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, asserting the above restrictions were unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution and Article 5, Section 1 of the Arkansas state constitution.  

LWV Arkansas and its co-plaintiffs were represented David Couch P.L.L.C. and Steptoe LLP.