Arkansas voters will decide whether to eliminate the Pope County casino license from the Arkansas Constitution and to void any license issued before Election Day.

The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday, Oct. 17 rejected all challenges to the measure that if passed would also require local voter approval in the event Arkansans ever consent to additional casino licenses in the future.

"In sum, we hold that the popular name and ballot title are an intelligible, honest, and impartial means of presenting the Proposed Amendment to the people for their consideration. We hold that it is an adequate and fair representation without misleading tendencies or partisan coloring. Therefore, as to Count II, we deny the petitioners’ request to remove the measure from the ballot," the majority opinion states.

Read the Opinion

Last week, the court rejected an argument that Issue 2 should be struck from the ballot because the company that sponsors hired to collect voter signatures signed campaign paperwork on their behalf.

With these challenges out of the way, Issue 2 is clear to stay on the Nov. 5 ballot for voters to decide.

The Arkansas Supreme Court did not rule on Issue 3 today, the last regularly-scheduled opinion release date before early voting starts.

Sponsors of the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2024 filed a lawsuit on Oct. 1 asking the Arkansas Supreme Court to order Secretary of State John Thurston to count voter signatures they submitted during a "cure period."

Thurston initially declined to count the signatures because he argued sponsors should have signed canvasser paperwork instead of the company Arkansans for Patient Access hired to handle signature canvassing. This was the same argument the court rejected in their Issue 2 decision. Thurston's office counted the contested signatures and declared the campaign had met the 90,704-voter signature threshold to qualify the proposed constitutional amendment for the ballot.

Bill Paschal, who filed the lawsuit on Issue 3, said Thursday morning he did not know when the court would rule on the proposal.

Early voting starts Monday.

Depending on the community you live in, you may see a local ballot issue when you go vote Nov. 5.

Special elections, such as sales taxes, bond issues, or wet/dry alcohol elections, can now take place only twice a year under state law. In a presidential-election year, special elections are allowed the second Tuesday in March or November.

In non-presidential election years, cities and counties can hold special elections on the second Tuesday of May or November. But they would have to pay for these elections since there would be no statewide election taking place.

Read our blog post for ballot titles of local special elections

We also published several fact sheets on local ballot issues, including a vote on changing how votes are cast and counted in Independence County.

The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a circuit court judge's decision to order the citizen initiative to be placed on the Independence County ballot after the county clerk originally rejected the petition over a misleading ballot title. The Arkansas Supreme Court found the ballot title to be sufficient.

Read our blog post about Independence County's fact sheet