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

Early voting had already started October 21 when Arkansans finally learned the state Supreme Court had disqualified the medical marijuana amendment from the ballot. 

The decision came a little more than two weeks before Election Day Nov. 5, which surely we all can agree is too late in the process.

This happens a lot. Maybe the next Supreme Court chief justice can do something about it. 

Two current justices, Rhonda Wood and Karen Baker, are vying to be chief justice. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette gave them both a chance to address the issue in its Sunday edition Oct. 13. 

The article quoted a news release from Wood where she said she planned to create a working group to review the process and potentially change Arkansas Supreme Court rules. Changes could include adding a deadline for legal challenges, allowing ballot title changes to come earlier than they do now, and providing a 14-day briefing calendar and five-day deadline for the court to issue its opinion. That latter change would have produced a decision by Sept. 16 this year.  Continue reading →

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

Let’s talk about the treasurer’s race, one of two statewide elections in Arkansas this year, the other being for state Supreme Court chief justice.

The treasurer is the state’s banker. It accepts more than $70 million in deposits daily and credits them to the appropriate accounts. It also manages the state’s $11.6 billion investment portfolio in concert with the State Board of Finance.

This year’s is a special election because the elected officeholder, Mark Lowery, died in office. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders appointed Larry Walther to finish the term.

The candidates are Secretary of State John Thurston, a Republican; Democrat John Pagan, a law professor and former state senator; and Libertarian Dr. Michael Pakko, an economist. The winner would have to stand for re-election in 2026.  Continue reading →

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

Elections can be complicated. This year’s two proposed constitutional amendments aren’t.

The more high-profile one is Issue 2, which was initiated by citizens who collected signatures to qualify for the ballot. It would do two things. First, it would revoke Pope County’s casino license. Second, it would require all future licenses approved by voters statewide to be subject to a following special election in the county where the casino would be located. 

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

Anyone who questions why they should vote in this election – or any election – should look to Iowa. And I’m not talking about the Iowa caucuses.

Instead, I’m referring to the end of the first quarter of each University of Iowa Hawkeyes home football game. 

That’s when 70,000 people at Kinnick Stadium – fans, Iowa football players, coaches, the opposing team – turn toward the Stead Family Children’s Hospital overlooking the field and wave in solidarity for several moments to the patients and their families.

The tradition started in 2017 after the hospital was built. It came about as a result of a suggestion someone made on Facebook.

If you’ve never seen the tradition in action, it’s easy to find it online. ESPN did a powerful piece on it seven years ago; if you watch it, have tissue paper handy. One mother talked about her son who was recovering from a difficult cranial surgery. Discouraged at his situation, he looked out the window and said, “At least Saturday’s coming!” And his mood totally changed.

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

The 2024 election season can produce many feelings, including dread, despair and disappointment. What if we tried gratitude?

In the coming months, average Americans will again act as the nation’s board of directors. A billionaire/former president and the vice president of the United States will ask voters to hire one of them as the executive branch’s CEO. Other candidates likewise will ask to hold other offices. 

The winners will serve a set number of years. Then, they will have to come before the voters again if they want to be re-elected.

It is an imperfect system to be sure. Voters decide based on wrong and limited information and often elect the wrong people. The nation is divided, and Congress has become so partisan and dysfunctional that it can’t even debate the nation’s challenges, much less meaningfully address them. Traditions like accepting the voters’ will and the peaceful transition of power are less treasured than they once were.

But the American system has helped produce a standard of living and human freedom that people across the world envy, aspire to, and try to copy or escape to. If we need a wall along the southern border, it’s to channel the flood of people desperate to come here, not lock our own people in. That is not the case in some places. Continue reading →