Instructions for Arkansas FOIA Petition Canvassers

Canvassers for the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) petitions
are needed all over the state to gather signatures
for two petitions to get a Constitutional Amendment 
and an Initiated Act on the November 2024 ballot.

These two issues are needed to protect every Arkansan’s right to transparency.

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The Arkansas Government Disclosure Amendment of 2024 and the Arkansas Government Disclosure Act of 2024 will provide for the following:

• Establish citizen access to our government meetings, records, and notices as a constitutionally protected right.

• Make sure that the legislature may not change any law that affects transparency without a 2/3 vote in the House and the Senate to refer the question to the vote of the people in the next General Election.

• Increase sanctions for those who wilfully violate the rights protected by the amendment.

Please SIGN the petitions, but we need you to do more than just sign:  we are asking you to go the extra mile and help gather signatures as well. Time is short, and without you helping gather signatures, it will be a difficult task to complete. We need to band together to help protect OUR FOIA Law, The People’s Law.

FOIA canvassers need to make sure they always have on hand separate petitions for people who may live in different Arkansas counties. Remember, there are 75 counties in Arkansas, so if you are at a big event gathering signatures, be prepared to have enough petitions. Please do NOT mix up people that live in different counties because you cannot lump them altogether on the same petition sheet. You must have a separate petition sheet for each county. For example, Saline county voters on a petition sheet marked “Saline” on the blank line provided. Pulaski voters on a petition sheet marked “Pulaski”; and so forth.

Each petition with signatures must be notarized before they are turned in to the Hubs. Some of the Hubs are set up to notarize the petitions for you. If the Hubs can’t notarize the petitions, then you can use your bank, and if you have an account with them, this service is usually free.

Each petition has 10 signature spots on it, so please try to get all 10 filled by registered Arkansas voters, if you can.

You do NOT have to be a registered voter to gather signatures, but a person must be a registered Arkansas voter to sign the petition.

The instructions listed below were copied directly from the Office of Attorney General Tim Griffin:

Instructions to Canvassers and Signers

1. Under the Arkansas Constitution, citizens have the power to (a) initiate legislation by petition of 8% of the legal voters, (b) initiate constitutional amendments by petition of 10% of legal voters, or (c) order a referendum on any general act or any item of an appropriation bill or measure passed by the General Assembly by petition of 6% of legal voters. A proposed measure must be submitted at a regular election. Referendum petitions may be referred at special elections on petition of 15% of the registered voters. Any measure submitted to the people becomes law when approved by a majority of the votes cast upon such measure.

2. Only registered voters may sign. All signatures must be in the signer’s own handwriting and in the presence of the person circulating the petition. Each petition part should contain only the signatures of voters residing in a single county.

3. A signer must provide her or her printed name, date of birth, residence, city or town of residence, and date of signing. If, due to a disability, a petition signer needs help providing this information, another person may print the signer’s information and that person must sign and print her or her name in the petition’s margin.

4. A canvasser must be both a citizen of the United States and a resident of the State of Arkansas.

5. Under A.C.A. § 7-9-103, a person commits a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $2,500 and confinement of up to one year in jail, if the person knowingly (a) prints a name, address, or birth date other than his or her own to a petition or (b) prints the date of signing for another person, unless the signer requires assistance due to disability and the person complies with § 7-9-103.

6. Under A.C.A. §§ 5-55-601 and 7-9-109, a person commits a Class D felony, punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and up to six years imprisonment, if the person:

• Knowingly:
o Signs a name other than his or her name to a petition;
o Signs his or her name more than once on a petition; or
o Signs a petition when he or she is not legally entitled to do so;

• While acting as a canvasser, notary, sponsor, as defined under A.C.A. § 7-9-101, or as a sponsor’s agent:
o Signs a name other than his or her own to a petition;
o Prints a name, address, or birth date other than his or her own to a petition, unless the signor requires assistance due to disability and the person complies with § 7-9-103;
o Solicits or obtains a signature to a petition knowing that the person signing is not qualified to sign the petition; o Knowingly pays a person any form of compensation in exchange for signing a petition as a petitioner;
o Accepts or pays money or anything of value for obtaining signatures on a petition when the person acting as a canvasser, sponsor, or agent of a sponsor knows that the person acting as a canvasser’s name or address is not included on the sponsor’s list filed with the Secretary of State under § 7-9-601; or
o Knowingly misrepresents the purpose and effect of the petition or the measure for the purpose of causing a person to sign a petition;

• While acting as a canvasser, knowingly makes a false statement on a petition verification form;

• While acting as a sponsor, files a petition or a petition part with the official charged with verifying the signatures knowing that the petition or petition part contains one or more false or fraudulent signatures, unless the sponsor clearly strikes each false or fraudulent signature before filing;

• While acting as a canvasser, witnesses signatures on a petition part but knowingly allows another canvasser who did not witness all signatures on a petition part to execute a false verification affidavit with respect to that petition part; or

• While acting as a sponsor, sponsor’s agent, or representative:
o Knowingly pays a canvasser for petitioner signatures on a petition part not personally witnessed by that paid canvasser; or
o Knowingly submits to the Secretary of State a petition part where the verifying canvasser has not witnessed each signature on that petition part.

7. Under A.C.A. § 7-9-601, a person commits a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $2,500 and up to one year in jail, if the person pays or offers to pay a person, or receives payment or agrees to receive payment, on a basis related to the number of signatures obtained on a statewide petition.

Tim Griffin
Attorney General of Arkansas

Revised 3/02/23

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After you pick up a blank petition, you can go to events (even sporting events), your church, friends, family, and co-workers to ask them to sign it. This weekend is a great time to do that, as many people will be gathering together. A great way to introduce it is, “Hi, are you a registered voter in Arkansas? Have you had a chance to sign the FOIA petitions yet?”

And check out all the exciting and fun events that can be a good place to gather many signatures during the month of April in Arkansas! There are LOTS of events going on right now.

April, May, & June will go by very quickly, and on July 5, 2024, all signatures will be turned in to the Secretary of State. Again, if you picked your blank petitions up from a Hub, after you collect signatures on them, please have them notarized, and then return them to the Hub. Someone at the Hub or at your bank may be able to notarize them for you for free. You can call ahead to see if the Hub/newspaper location has a notary on hand.

PETITION HUBS — Locations around the state where you can SIGN the petition and also pick up some blank petitions to help gather signatures for the Act and for the Amendment to be placed on the Nov. 2024 ballot:

McCutchen Napurano — The Law Firm
1622 N B Street, Fort Smith, AR 72901

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