By Steve Brawner, © 2024 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

It’s hard for many groups to get much done via representative democracy in Arkansas these days, so this election season – and maybe in future ones – they are trying the direct democracy route.

As you may have noticed, there are more proposed ballot initiatives this year than voters can shake a stick at. 

Meanwhile, there are few competitive candidate races. The presidential race is a foreground conclusion at this point. The only statewide race will be a special election for state treasurer, which Republican Secretary of State John Thurston almost certainly will win. Republicans will likely maintain their control of more than 80% of the Legislature.

The 2nd Congressional District race could be interesting. Democrats are running a retired Army colonel with a chestful of medals, Marcus Jones, against U.S. Rep. French Hill. 

On the other hand, Hill has defeated every strong candidate Democrats have run against him in the past, and he’ll be running in a district redrawn by a Republican Legislature to favor him.

Theoretically, in a state dominated by Republicans except in the pockets where it’s dominated by Democrats, the action would be in the party primaries. But the primaries were a big blah this year, too. Only one congressional race was contested. U.S. Rep. Steve Womack defeated state Sen. Clint Penzo by eight points. There were only 24 contested state legislative races between the Republican and Democratic primaries combined. Three resulted in runoffs that were being decided April 2. None of the rest were nail-biters.

With one party dominating Arkansas politics and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders dominating that party, folks who want something different can’t accomplish much through the legislative process. Meanwhile, it’s hard for anyone to get much passed through a gridlocked Congress on the national level. 

That’s part of the reason so many groups are trying to pass big ballot measures this year. Those include an amendment legalizing abortion up to 18 weeks or until the end of the pregnancy when the mother’s life or physical health are in danger and in cases of rape and incest; one allowing nurse practitioners, physicians’ assistants and pharmacists to prescribe medical marijuana; and one requiring private schools that accept state funds to abide by the same rules public schools do, among other provisions.

Those are the ones Sanders is actively opposing through two political action committees, Stronger Arkansas and Arkansans for Students and Educators. She will put more effort into stopping those proposals than she will electing legislative candidates who’ll win anyway. 

Sanders’ efforts will not lack for resources. She is a national figure who can raise money across the country.

The three ballot initiatives, on the other hand, all will have volunteers, but two may have limited financial resources. The groups backing the proposed education amendment typically don’t have huge amounts of money to spend. The abortion amendment backers hadn’t been able to get national backing as of February, according to Politico. The medical marijuana amendment, on the other hand, will have money from the marijuana industry.

Aside from those three, other ballot initiatives are making their way through the process. One would enshrine the state’s Freedom of Information Act into the Constitution and pass a companion initiated act to fill in the details. This is in reaction to Sanders’ efforts to restrict the law in a special session last year. So far, she is not publicly opposing it. One proposal would require Arkansans to use paper ballots. Another would let voters reject a casino in their county, even if it passes statewide. It’s being led by Pope County residents who don’t want a casino in their backyard. Another effort would remove the sales tax on feminine hygiene products and on diapers. 

All of these efforts still must collect signatures, survive court challenges, run campaigns and then win. Perhaps only a couple will actually make the ballot. Or perhaps voters will be asked to decide five or six big, important issues this time. 

If several are successful, this might become more a part of the landscape. More groups may decide that if they can’t reach their goals through Arkansas’ representative democracy, they can try direct democracy instead. 

In other words, if you can’t beat them, why not try going around them? You might lose, but you weren’t winning anyway. 

Steve Brawner is a syndicated columnist published in 16 outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com. Follow him on Twitter at @stevebrawner.