Little Rock, Ark. – Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin announces that the Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Amendment met the signature requirements of Article 5, Section 1 of the Arkansas Constitution. The constitutional amendment needed 78,133 valid signatures; the Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Amendment sponsors tuned in 127,265. At this time, the proposed amendment has at least 87,102 valid signatures. There are still signatures being verified; please note the total number of valid signatures may increase.
The Secretary of State has certified the proposed amendment to the County Boards of Election Commissioners. It will be Issue No. 4 on the November 4, 2014 ballot.
Registered voters will decide on the proposed amendment that if approved, would legalize the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol statewide. The deadline to register to vote for the General Election is October 6, 2014. For information on voter registration, go to the Arkansas Secretary of State’s webpage, www.sos.arkansas.gov.
The Arkansas Attorney General’s Office has given this initiative the following ballot title:
An amendment proposed by the people to the Arkansas Constitution to provide, effective July 1, 2015, that the manufacture, sale, distribution and transportation of intoxicating liquors is permitted in every geographic area of each and every county of this state; that for purposes of the amendment, “intoxicating liquors” is defined as any beverage containing more than one-half of one percent of alcohol by weight; that the manufacture, sale, distribution and transportation of intoxicating liquors may be regulated but not prohibited by the General Assembly; and, that all laws, specifically including laws providing for a local option election (wet-dry election) to determine whether intoxicating liquors may be sold or not sold, in conflict with this amendment are repealed to the extent they conflict with this amendment.
See the following link for the entire Attorney General’s request for certification, pursuant to A.C.A. § 7-9-107 (Repl. 2013): http://ag.arkansas.gov/opinions/docs/2014-049.html.
