Ark. Code Ann. § 7-9-106 (2026)
Required attachments to petitions
- To every petition for the initiative shall be attached a full and correct copy of the title and the measure proposed.
- To every petition for the referendum shall be attached a full and correct copy of the measure on which the referendum is ordered.
History. Acts 1911 (1st Ex. Sess.), No. 2, § 7; C. & M. Dig., § 9768; Pope's Dig., § 13288; A.S.A. 1947, § 2-205.
Publisher's Notes. Ark. Const., Amend. 7, which amended Ark. Const., Art. 5, § 1, repealed Acts 1911 (1st Ex. Sess.), No. 2 to the extent of any conflict therewith.
Case Notes
In General.
This section is jurisdictional and mandatory. Townsend v. McDonald, 184 Ark. 273, 42 S.W.2d 410 (1931).
Because the initiative sponsors' revised ballot title was something clearly different than the original ballot title, no signature collected under the former title could support certification of the revised ballot title under Ark. Const. Amend. 7, which amended Ark. Const., Art. 5, § 1, subsection (a) of this section, or § 7-9-104(a); the Secretary of State's certification was vacated and any votes cast could not be counted. Walmsley v. Martin, 2012 Ark. 370, 423 S.W.3d 587 (2012).
Changes to Text.
A ballot title need not be the same version submitted to the Attorney General under § 7-9-107 and subsection (a) of this section where the differences are immaterial, such as deletion of an unnumbered, parenthetical aside in the nature of an editorial comment which does not legislate or affect the proposed measure one way or the other. Porter v. McCuen, 310 Ark. 562, 839 S.W.2d 512 (1992).
Clerical Error.
A clerical error in the number and date of approval of an act could not have been misleading in a referendum petition where an otherwise exact copy of the act appeared in the petition. Westbrook v. McDonald, 184 Ark. 740, 43 S.W.2d 356 (1931).
Procedure.
Under this section it is necessary that a full and correct copy of a referred measure be attached to each referendum petition, but it is not necessary that it be attached to each sheet of a petition. Townsend v. McDonald, 184 Ark. 273, 42 S.W.2d 410 (1931).
Where the city did not have a local ordinance in place on the subject of attachment of the measure to the referendum petition, the clerk had to look to the statute for guidance; the purpose of attaching a copy of the measure to the petition was to inform the voter of what he or she was signing, regardless of whether the measure was a statewide act or a local ordinance, and asking the voters to sign a petition without an attached copy of the ordinance would defeat the purpose of the statute. Kyzar v. City of W. Memphis, 360 Ark. 454, 201 S.W.3d 923 (2005).