On Monday, the Arkansas Supreme Court partially dismissed a lawsuit contesting a certified ballot referendum for this November’s election aimed at rescinding a gaming license granted for a casino resort project in Pope County.
Should Issue 2 receive majority support next month, the ballot referendum would modify the Arkansas Constitution to stipulate that only counties that conduct local referendums displaying backing for a casino can be granted a gaming concession by the Arkansas Racing Commission (ARC), the state body overseeing slot machines, table games, and sports wagering in Arkansas. Cherokee Nation Entertainment, which received the Pope County casino license from ARC earlier this year, is contesting the methods used by the campaign for Issue 2 to gather voter signatures for certification by Arkansas State Secretary John Thurston.
On Monday, the state's supreme court rejected some of the Cherokee's allegations, including assertions that Local Voters in Charge, the political organization financed by the Choctaw Nation, an Eastern Oklahoma tribe aiming to safeguard its tribal casinos from increased competition, compensated canvassers based on the number of voters they gathered. The court additionally dismissed allegations that canvassers were not correctly registered and other procedural mistakes.
A statewide ballot measure approved in 2018 permitted the establishment of commercial casinos in Crittenden, Garland, Jefferson, and Pope counties. Voters in Pope were part of 11 counties out of 75 in Arkansas that opposed the casinos.
In delivering the court’s unanimous ruling, Arkansas Supreme Court Associate Justice Courtney Rae Hudson stated that the plaintiffs did not present sufficient evidence for the court to disqualify enough signatures to overturn the referendum.
"While petitioners produced multiple videos as proof of an unlawful offer to pay … they never offered evidence of the total number of signatures collected by the 14 paid canvassers recorded in the video,” Hudson wrote. “Furthermore, none of those paid canvassers reported when they were offered $100 for 100 signatures or who made the unlawful offers. An improper offer without more is not enough to invalidate signatures.”
Regarding the canvassing effort purportedly not assigning its certification duty “to an agent outside” of Local Voters in Charge — meaning an individual who is neither an officer, member, nor employee of the campaign — the court determined that the campaign legally fulfilled certification requirements by hiring PCI Consultants.
The court’s conclusions mostly corresponded with the earlier suggestions made by Special Master Randy Wright. Wright, a judge in the Eighth Judicial Circuit, was tasked with initially examining both parties' arguments to speed up the high court's evaluation of the case as Election Day nears.
The Arkansas Supreme Court’s decision increases the Cherokee’s chances of having Issue 2 taken off next month’s ballot. The Cherokee's sole remaining hope is that the other argument about the ballot title language being deceptive gets support from the judges. The court is anticipated to rule on the outstanding claim shortly.
"Issue 2 is misleading, and its sole purpose is to undo the will of Arkansas voters by eliminating the fourth casino license they approved in 2018,” said Allison Burum, a spokesperson for the Cherokees and its associated campaign, the Arkansas Canvassing Compliance Committee.
Local Voters in Charge rejoiced at the court's ruling.
"We’re grateful for today’s Arkansas Supreme Court ruling,” said Hans Stiritz, a spokesperson for Local Voters in Charge. “It’s no small thing for the Supreme Court to unanimously rule that we got it right on the canvassing process.”
Recent surveys indicate that 42% of potential voters support Issue 2, while just 28% express opposition to the referendum. A notable 30% indicated that they are uncertain.
