LITTLE ROCK-Canvassers around the state are in a month-long sprint to gather thousands of signatures for proposed ballot issues. Depending on how things fall, Arkansas voters might have a chance to consider multiple marijuana-related proposals this fall.
The marijuana measures, a plan to legalize casinos in three counties, an effort to impose strict term limits on legislators and new limits on lawsuit damages are the half-dozen proposals vying for a spot on the ballot ahead of a July 8 deadline to submit petitions.
Two ballot issues under consideration would legalize medical marijuana, and the prospect of competing proposals on the ballot worries advocates.
"It will be enough to split the vote and both will fail," said Melissa Fults, campaign director for Arkansans for Compassionate Care, which is trying to put an initiated act on the ballot.
Fults says her group has already gathered more than 70,000 valid signatures from registered voters, more than the 67,887 needed to get the proposed initiated act on the ballot. David Couch, the Little Rock lawyer behind a competing medical marijuana proposal, says he's not worried about the prospect of both measures being on the ballot.
Couch said he's gathered support from more than 40,000 registered voters, nearly half of the 84,859 he'll need to put his plan on the ballot as a proposed constitutional amendment, which requires more signatures.
"I think that if the debate is about whether or not someone is sick and dying or has some sort of illness that marijuana can actually help with that and the doctor prescribes it, nobody has a problem with it," Couch said.
The proposals are also vying with a wider measure to legalize marijuana for recreational and medical purposes. Mary Berry, the Summit woman behind that proposal, didn't return a message about her proposal last week.
Arkansas voters in 2012 narrowly rejected legalizing medical marijuana after a campaign that drew attention and money from national legalization advocates. It's unclear whether either medical marijuana proposal will draw that kind of support this time if they make the ballot, but they're likely to face stiff opposition. The Family Council, a conservative group that campaigned against the 2012 measure, has filed paperwork with the Ethics Commission to oppose any legalization efforts. A separate group, the Coalition for Safer Arkansas Communities, has also formed to oppose the marijuana proposals.
Three other initiative campaigns say they're facing mixed results in gathering signatures. Tim Jacob with Restore Term Limits said his group has gathered at least the signatures it'll need for its proposed constitutional amendment to reinstate legislative term limits that were loosened by voters in 2014. The group's proposal would not only restore the old limits-three two-year terms in the House and two four-year terms in the Senate-but also cap the total time someone could serve in the Legislature at 10 years.
A spokesman for another group, Health Care Access for Arkansans, says it has gathered more than half the signatures needed for its proposed constitutional amendment aimed to set limits on noneconomic damages and attorney contingency fees in lawsuits against health care providers.
The steepest hill to climb could also end up being the most contentious issue this fall, if it makes the ballot. Arkansas Wins 2016, which has proposed amending the constitution to allow privately run casinos in three Arkansas counties, won approval of its ballot language a week before the deadline to publish the proposal statewide.
A similar casino legalization measure was kicked off the ballot by the state Supreme Court four years ago. That measure had also been the target of a high-profile and expensive campaign funded by the Hot Springs horse track and West Memphis dog track, both of which offer electronic gambling.
Robert Coon, a spokesman for the pro-casino group, said the group was encouraged by the support it's seen so far but acknowledge the challenge they face in trying to meet next month's deadline.
"Nobody has quite the same level of time frame that we have," Coon said.