The Arkansas General Assembly’s Arkansas Legislative Council just approved a new permanent rule that bans everyone, except for a few government agencies, from using electronic signatures on voter registration forms. Arkansas’s voter registration process is antiquated, and this new rule takes us even further back in time. For instance, though states began passing online voter registration laws in the mid 2000s, Arkansas is one of only a handful of states that still has not adopted the process. But even online voter registration has become old fashioned. Many states are now moving to automatic voter registration.

The use of electronic signatures, though not as accessible as online or automatic voter registration, was a step into the 21st century. But after a nonprofit organization began helping people register to vote by collecting electronic signatures, the Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioners moved to ban the practice and proposed an emergency rule followed by a permanent rule. The emergency rule was approved by the Arkansas Legislative Council earlier this summer. But with a vote from the Council on Friday, the rule is now permanent. Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families opposed the rule, and before the permanent rule was voted on, we submitted public comments copied below.

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families believes that families should have a say in major decisions that will impact their communities. That is why we support efforts that make voting easier and oppose policies that make it harder to vote, so families can have their say with their ballot. We oppose this proposed rule that would prevent third party voter registration organizations and individuals from using electronic signatures on voter registration forms, because it takes away a valuable voter registration option and makes our state’s cumbersome voter registration process even more burdensome.

• This rule creates unnecessary red tape for Arkansans, nonprofit organizations, and County Clerk’s offices. Arkansas already allows electronic signatures submitted by Voter Registration Agencies. County Clerk’s offices receive voter registration forms with electronic signatures from the Office of Motor Vehicles and other voter registration agencies regularly. Allowing third party organizations or individual citizens to submit voter registration forms with electronic signatures would not create new processes or procedures. County Clerk’s offices would simply need to use processes already in place to officially register new voters.
• In terms of signature matching between voter registration forms and absentee ballot applications, the State Board of Election Commissioners provides guidance that local election officials follow when matching electronic signatures submitted by Voter Registration Organizations and absentee ballot applications. The request for the permanent adoption of this rule provides no reasoning for why the methods of verification already in place cannot be used with electronic signatures submitted by individual Arkansans or third-party registration organizations.
• Much of Amendment 51 of the Arkansas Constitution was aimed at ensuring that the state was compliant with the federal National Voter Registration Act of 1993. The Act was designed to make it easier for Americans to register to vote, not harder. The rule in question goes against the spirit of the federal Act. Surely, the sponsors of the Act did not intend the rights and responsibilities of Voter Registration Organizations to preclude similar methods of voter registration from being used by third party organizations.
• This rule was proposed under section 5(e) of Amendment 51 of the Arkansas Constitution, which gives the Commission the power to create rules that will make uniform and efficient procedures around the state. However, the passage of this rule does the opposite. It creates different rules for different groups of organizations and individuals, creating confusion, not uniformity. Sometimes when electronic signatures are collected, they will be acceptable. At other times electronic signatures will cause the form to be rejected — simply based on who is submitting the form, not based on concerns of errors or fraud.

According to a KFF (formerly known as Kaiser Family Foundation) analysis from 2022, Arkansas ranks 50^th among states and the District of Columbia for the percentage of registered voters as a share of the voting-age population, with only 62.2% registered. The highest ranked state has a registration rate of 82.7%. Arkansans care as much about our communities and government as the people in any other state. So, we must look at what causes there might be for this huge disparity in our voter registration rates. Arkansas Advocates believes burdensome and unnecessary government regulations like this proposal are one important cause. Arkansas families have a right to decide who represents them and what laws are passed on the ballot. This rule leaves many Arkansans out of the voting booth. We urge the state to reject this proposal and use the policies and procedures already in place to match signatures and verify voters’ identities.