AAC
to adopt court rules [giving the legislature the power to enact and adopt rules for the courts]; and • Issue 2 — A constitutional amendment adding as a quali- fication to vote that a voter present certain valid photographic identification when casting a ballot in person or casting an absentee ballot. Te three issues making the ballot by petition are: • Issue 3 — A constitutional amendment establishing term limits for the General Assembly. • Issue 4 — A constitutional amendment to require four licenses to be issued for casino gaming. • Issue 5 — An initiated act to increase the Arkansas Mini- mum Wage. At press time all of these ballot issues, except Issue 2, are fac- ing legal challenges in the state’s court system. As they have done each election cycle since 2004, Te Public
Policy Center of the University of Arkansas, Division of Agri- culture, has developed unbiased, nonpartisan information on each ballot issue. Te information is not pro or con but simply information laying out specifically what each proposal will do if enacted by the electorate. Tis information is available on- line at
http://www.uaex.edu/ppc. If you do not have the avail- ability of the Internet, copies of this information are available at the County Extension Service Offices around the state. My
SEEMS TO ME ...
County Agent, Mike Andrews, emails this information to me on a regular basis. Your county agent would probably do the same for you.
Another way to be informed is to talk with someone you
trust in these type matters — someone you know keeps ap- prised of candidate platforms [regardless of party affiliation] and issues. Te bottom line is this: Get the facts, not the buzz; insist on clear answers, listen to the voice of reason and vote. Tere is no reason why “reason” must be muzzled, no cause
for “reason” to have laryngitis just because of the noise makers. I hope you will join me in ignoring the outside screamers who want nothing except to increase their wealth or advance their cause at our expense. John F. Kennedy said, “Te ignorance of one voter in a de- mocracy impairs the security of all.” I don’t want to be that one voter President Kennedy was talking about — and I’m not going to be. I will be informed on the candidates and the issues when I cast my vote. Democracy works best when the American electorate is en- gaged and informed, but not by outside special interest groups. Tose outside noisemakers can shout and scream and holler to their heart’s content, but I’m not paying any attention to them. I’m smart enough — and so are you — to make up my own mind based “on the voice of reason.” I aspire to be that voice of reason.
COUNTY LINES, SUMMER 2018
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