BENTONVILLE — Members of a special-interest group looking to get a state constitutional amendment put on the ballot in November showed up at four polling sites Tuesday to collect signatures.

The Bentonville school millage question was being voted on at seven polling locations.

The amendment, proposed by Secure Arkansas, calls for the state to deny benefits to most illegal immigrants. Lea said the amendment excludes children 14 and younger. Illegal immigrants could still receive emergency care and inoculations, said Jan Lea, director for Secure Arkansas in the 3rd Congressional District.

Lea, of Rogers, camped out at the Church of Christ on Walton Boulevard. She asked voters to sign the petition as they got in and out of their vehicles.

“It’s a good place for signatures to be gathered,” Lea said of her location.

Secure Arkansas’ Web site, www.securearkansas.com, says the group works to protect state sovereignty and adherence to the state constitution.

Secure Arkansas needs 78,000 signatures to have the initiative placed on the ballot, Lea said. The group has 11,192 signatures, according to its Web site.

Jose Gomez, state director for Reform Immigration for America, said if Secure Arkansas is successful at gathering the needed signatures and the issue is put on the ballot his group will campaign against it.

Gomez said there needs to be a comprehensive approach to immigration reform.

“Groups such as Secure Arkansas spread misinformation, blaming immigrants for a range of issues that are not factual,” Gomez said.

Police were called to the church after church officials questioned if the group had the right to be there. Bentonville Police Chief James Allen said there were two calls about Secure Arkansas being at a polling site, but no problems were reported.

Benton County Election Commissioner Bill Williams said there were concerns about whether the group could legally collect the signatures at polling sites Tuesday.

Williams checked with the Arkansas Secretary of State’s Office and was told even though the polling sites are on private property, the sites are considered public property during voting hours.

Groups such as Secure Arkansas can collect signatures as long as their members do not cause any disruption and remain 100 feet from the door of a polling location, Williams said.

“It’s our constitutional right to be here as long as voting is taking place,” Lea said.

Kenny Wallis, the Little Rock director of Secure Arkansas, collected signatures at the Bella Vista Baptist Church on Lancashire Boulevard.

Karen Swogger, a pollworker at the church, called Bella Vista police because she felt Wallis was less than 100 feet away from the poll’s entryway.

Bella Vista police asked Wallis to leave, but Wallis returned after it was determined he had a right to be there. The church’s parking lot was marked with white spray paint to show where the 100-foot buffer zone was located.

Michael McCauley, pastor of Bella Vista Baptist Church, said the church has been a polling site for numerous years and has a policy prohibiting petition drives so the church would not to be caught up in any controversy.

McCauley said he spoke with a representative of Secure Arkansas on Tuesday. Once McCauley learned the group could legally be on church property Wallis was allowed to return.

“That’s the law,” McCauley said. “We don’t want the church to get involved in any unnecessary hassles.”

The law, Amendment 7 of the Arkansas Constitution, may lead the church to reconsider whether to house a polling site, McCauley said.

“There may be some petitions or groups that are opposite of the church’s teachings,” McCauley said.

Amendment 7 deals with statewide petitions. In part, the amendment says, “no law shall be passed to prohibit any person or persons from giving or receiving compensation for circulating petitions, nor to prohibit the circulation of petitions, nor any manner interfering with the freedom of the people in procuring petitions ...”

Williams is concerned because many polling sites in Benton County are at churches. He believes some churches may decide not to allow polling sites on their property in the future.

Williams said he will ask the Election Commission to consider a policy in Benton County that will state people are allowed at polling places only to vote on an election day.

Lea said she understood Williams’ concern, but she and the other group members were within their constitutional right to solicit signatures.