The number of proposed constitutional amendments on the 2018 general election ballot rose to two Tuesday when the Senate approved a proposal that would require future voters to present photo identification.
The Senate voted 24-8 on House Joint Resolution 1016 by Rep. Robin Lundstrum, R-Elm Springs. On Feb. 22, the House voted 73-21 for the proposed amendment. Gov. Asa Hutchinson's approval is not required to get the measure on the ballot.
Lawmakers, who can place up to three proposed amendments on the November 2018 ballot, earlier this session approved a proposal to limit damage awards in civil lawsuits.
The proposed amendments must be approved by voters to become law.
A total of 34 states have laws that request or require voters to show some form of identification at the polls, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Arkansas is included on that list because poll workers request that voters show identification but it is not required.
The proposal in HJR1016, if approved by 2018 voters, would require the General Assembly to enact a law requiring voters to present valid photo identification before they receive ballots at the polls. Also, those voting by absentee ballot would have to enclose a copy of their valid photo identifications with their ballots. The General Assembly also would have to establish the acceptable types of identification.
Under the proposal, a person without a valid photo ID at a polling place would be permitted to cast a provisional ballot. An absentee ballot not accompanied by a copy of a valid photo ID also would be considered provisional. A provisional ballot would be counted only if the voter subsequently certified the provisional ballot in the manner provided by law.
Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, told senators that the proposal was written very broadly.
King said the 2019 General Assembly could, with a majority vote, require absentee voters who don't present their photo IDs with their ballots to sign a sworn statement attesting to their identities under the penalty of perjury.
But Sen. Linda Chesterfield, D-Little Rock, told her colleagues that "across this country, we are seeing more and more photo IDs" required of voters. "Too much of the effect has been to disenfranchise large numbers of minorities, especially senior citizens," she said.
The proposed amendment is a solution in search of a problem, she said.
Chesterfield said the Legislature should provide a pathway for people who have never had photo IDs.
Under the proposal, the state would be required to issue photo identification at no charge to eligible voters who don't have such identification.
Also, the proposal would require an incapacitated person at home who wants to vote by absentee ballot to send a copy of his photo ID to strangers, she said.
"If you become disabled and you have to send that photo ID to strangers, how comfortable are you with them protecting the integrity of the ID?" Chesterfield asked.
King said the state has had cases of voter impersonation, and there were thousands of fraudulent voter registrations in the previous election in Arkansas, he said.
The proposed amendment "would allow more identification to be able to stop voter fraud," King said.
He said he believes in the integrity of the right to vote, but also believes in protecting the integrity of the result.
In 2014, the state Supreme Court overturned a 2013 law requiring voters to present photo identification.
That law was enacted when the Republican-controlled Legislature overrode then-Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe's veto of the legislation, sponsored by King. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit challenging the law in 2014, and four of the court's seven justices ruled that the law improperly added a qualification to the voter qualifications in the state's constitution.
According to Article 3, Section 1, of the Arkansas Constitution, in order to vote, Arkansans need only be age 18 or older, U.S. citizens, Arkansas residents and properly registered to vote. The identification requirement was tantamount to a fifth qualification, according to the court's majority opinion.
In a concurring opinion, Justice Courtney Goodson said the Legislature's power to regulate elections stems from Amendment 51, Section 19, of the constitution.
Amendment 51 authorizes lawmakers to amend voter registration requirements if two-thirds of both houses of the General Assembly approve.
In this year's session, Rep. Mark Lowery, R-Maumelle, won House approval of his voter ID bill -- House Bill 1047 -- in a 74-21 vote. His bill has yet to obtain the minimum 24 votes needed in the 35-member Senate. The Senate voted 20-8 on the bill Monday.
Lowery has suggested that his bill could survive a court challenge with the approval of at least two-thirds of the House and Senate.
The Legislature already has referred to voters in the 2018 general election the latest version of a proposed constitutional amendment that would limit certain damage awards in civil lawsuits and attorneys' contingency fees, and allow the Legislature to rewrite the state Supreme Court's rules.
That measure is Senate Joint Resolution 8 by Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View.
The successful effort, backed by business and health care interests, comes on the heels of unsuccessful efforts to persuade the Legislature in 2013 and 2015 to refer similar proposals to voters. Over several years, the state Supreme Court ruled that parts of tort-law changes enacted by the Legislature in 2003 were unconstitutional, including a $1 million limit on punitive-damages awards.
An initiated amendment was offered in 2016, but in October, the Supreme Court declared that "critical" parts of the proposal were insufficiently described in the ballot title. The court blocked the state from counting votes cast on the measure in last year's general election.
Information for this article was contributed by Brian Fanney of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
A Section on 03/08/2017