Backers of two statewide ballot measures will get 30 days to gather more signatures after election officials determined that neither group had enough valid signatures to make it to the ballot.
The secretary of state's office announced Friday morning that a proposal to allow statewide alcohol sales fell 17,133 signatures short of the 78,133 required for constitutional amendments to be placed on the ballot. Late Friday, the office announced that a proposal to increase the minimum wage to $8.50 by 2017 had not reached the required 62,507 signatures needed for initiated acts to make it to voters.
Laura Labay, spokesman for the secretary of state, said the office wanted to give the minimum wage group the weekend to begin collecting more signatures but was still verifying some of the 64,000 signatures the group submitted earlier this month. She said a number would likely be available Monday.
Both groups will have until Aug. 18 at 5 p.m. to turn in more signatures in a process referred to as "curing."
"We're now in preparations to begin to collect signatures to cure the ballot measure. We hope to go out this weekend and do some and begin next week in a much more concerted effort," said Give Arkansas a Raise Now Chairman Steve Copley. "We're very confident that this will be on the ballot. And we're very confident we'll get the signatures we need."
Copley said the group, which is sponsoring the minimum wage measure, had not been collecting signatures since it turned in its initial petitions on July 7.
Representatives of Let Arkansas Decide, the group sponsoring the alcohol measure, planned to gather signatures throughout the weekend.
David Couch, an attorney leading the efforts for the Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Amendment, said its canvassers never stopped collecting signatures. He said the group has about 15,000 to 20,000 additional signatures collected since July 7, but wants more.
"We're going to collect for two or three more weeks with the statewide measure," Couch said. "I don't want anyone to come in and challenge the validity. I want a large enough number that nobody thinks it's worth messing with."
In order to get on the ballot, measures must also gather a minimum of signatures required at the county level -- which is a certain percentage of registered voters -- in 15 of Arkansas' 75 counties. For constitutional amendments that's 5 percent of the voters in those counties who cast ballots in the most recent governor's election, and for initiatives that's 4 percent of voters in those counties who cast ballots in the most recent governor's election.
Couch said his group gathered enough signatures in 33 counties, but his personal goal is to get all 75.
"I'm going to try. I want to show this has that kind of support," he said.
Calls to the Arkansas Faith and Ethics Council, opponents of the alcohol measure, were not returned as of late Friday.
Jerry Cox, president of the Family Council, said his group hasn't actively opposed the proposed amendment, but may do so later in the year.
"If it gets on the ballot, the fight has really just started. I think the proponents are very likely to gather enough signatures," Cox said. "We're not part of any coalition that has opposed it or campaigned against it. But, our position has always been that we have ... enough liquor stores, enough bars, enough wet counties and we see no reason to expand that."
The Family Council leader said the amendment is a bad idea.
"It tramples on the rights of these citizens who live in these small counties to decide for themselves if they want alcohol or not," he said.
Arkansas has long had a patchwork map of wet and dry counties. Supporters of the measure say the place-based restrictions on alcohol sales are antiquated and hurt the state's economy.
Cox said the state's policy of allowing each county to decide on its own has served the state well.
As of May, 37 counties were considered dry, meaning they don't allow the sale of alcohol. Many of those counties have towns or cities that have voted to become wet or have private clubs that were approved to sell alcohol through an exemption from the Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.
Efforts have been going on in at least three of those dry counties to place local alcohol sales measures on the county ballots. Friday, a group of supporters in Saline County was also told they fell short on signatures, and they had 10 days to take more to the county clerk.
The group, called Our Community, Our Dollars, submitted signatures on petitions to place the issue of alcohol sales on two county ballots in November.
The group, supported by Wal-Mart, Kum & Go and other retailers, submitted 25,917 signatures in Saline County and 20,956 in Craighead County on July 7. It is working to collect signatures for a similar measure in Faulkner County.
To make it on the November ballot, 38 percent of registered voters in each county need to sign the petitions.
After several 12-hour days, a Saturday work day, and extra helping hands, the Saline County clerk's office finished verifying the signatures Friday afternoon. Of the collected signatures there, 4,406 were rejected, County Clerk Doug Curtis said. Some of the petitioners weren't registered voters, while others were registered in different counties, he said.
The group needs a total of 25,580 signatures in Saline County to place the measure on the ballot. It will have another 10 days starting today to collect the additional 4,032 signatures, Curtis said.
After the 10 days, the clerk's office will have another five days to verify the new signatures.
The group submitted 2,888 numbered pages of signatures, Curtis said, but five pages were missing. They are still unaccounted for, but the Craighead County clerk's office had at least one of the pages, Curtis said. Part of the Saline County petition also included four pages that belonged to Faulkner County's initiative, he said.
Saline County residents last voted on whether to allow alcohol sales in the county on Feb. 11, 1936. At the time, 431 residents voted for it, and 620 voted against it, Curtis said.
The group has continued gathering signatures in Saline and Craighead counties, even after it turned in the petitions, group President Jay Allen said. He added that they have until Aug. 5 to collect the necessary amount of signatures in Faulkner County. Efforts were delayed because of damage from an April tornado there, he added.
The Craighead County clerk's office was still working to verify the signatures Friday afternoon and expected to finish by 4 p.m. Monday.
Of the three counties, Allen said opposition to the ballot measure appeared lowest in Saline County; it appeared highest, he said, in Faulkner County.
"It's an issue that there are different points of view on," he said. "We're seeing support for it in all three counties. But the overriding, most consistent message we hear is whether you're supportive or not of the county going wet, the democratic process ought to have a chance to function here."
A section on 07/19/2014