Three candidates are vying to become Arkansas’ top elections official.
Arkansas’ incumbent Secretary of State Cole Jester, a Republican, was appointed to the post. That means he can’t run for it in November – he’s running for Land Commissioner instead. Taking his place will be one of three candidates – Republican state Sen. Kim Hammer, Democrat Kelly Grappe or Libertarian Michael Pakko.
The Secretary of State’s Office is primarily tasked with overseeing elections in the state. For Hammer, that would be a natural continuation of his work over 16 years in the state legislature.
“The Bible says He appoints people to their office, he takes them out, builds kingdoms up, tears them down. And so, part of this is just part of the process of knowing what is God’s will for my life.”
Kelly Grappe also has an interest in elections – she’s worked on grassroots campaigns to put amendments on the ballot.
“I have seen over the last several years that the people’s voice is really trying to be stifled.”
Michael Pakko, too, has experience with the petition process. The Libertarian Party must collect signatures every time they want to appear on the ballot as a “new political party.”
“That experience has shown me that the system is really rigged to favor the two major parties, and I’m running to try to break that duopoly.”
The state’s direct democracy process is at center stage in the race. Arkansas is one of 16 states where voters can refer proposed constitutional amendments directly to the ballot. But it’s a high bar to clear – petitioners must collect nearly 100,000 signatures from 50 of Arkansas’ 75 counties. The signatures must be verified, and a slew of restrictions apply to the process of collecting them.
A number of those resulted from laws sponsored in the legislature by Hammer, which critics have said only seek to make the process harder for everyday Arkansans. He describes that criticism as “rhetoric”.
“We live in a society that’s wanting to dumb down everything, so why should we think that there aren’t those out there that want to dumb down the process? And I think that’s why they’re resisting it.”
Both Pakko and Grappe disagree.
“By putting these restrictions on, you’re basically just pricing the process out of the way of ordinary citizens. Only those with the deepest pockets are able to mount a campaign," Pakko said.
“I don’t think it should be easy to change our constitution… we need easy to understand and executable processes to help citizens be able to do that so it doesn’t require millions of dollars to get something across the finish line," Grappe said.
Grappe favors a more transparent direct democracy process. She’d appoint a commission to look at the elections process from top to bottom, with an eye toward helping voters take a more active role.
“We need processes that walk a ballot question committee from the very beginning how to do the process, there’s checkpoints throughout, there’s solid training for volunteers, for the organizations.”
A federal judge in August struck down several of the laws restricting the direct democracy process sponsored by Hammer. While, as secretary of state, he wouldn’t have a direct role in crafting legislation, he says he’s hopeful the restrictions will come back.
“I predict, I feel, that when the Eighth Circuit [U.S. Court of Appeals] gets done and they take a look at it that they’re going to be determined as constitutional. If they are, then they’ve passed a very high threshold… and I think that will reinforce the wisdom of what those pieces of legislation are intended to do.”
Michael Pakko sees barriers to direct democracy as part of a larger problem in Arkansas – one that leads to low voter turnout and participation in the democratic process.
“Arkansas is one of the highest in the nation, nearly 80% of all the contests that we are supposedly electing are unopposed," he said. "And yet there are still many barriers to entry, obstacles for independent candidates, third-party candidates, and even those who want to get involved in the two major parties.”
Arkansas voters will have three statewide constitutional amendments to consider in November, all of them referred to the ballot by lawmakers. One of them, Issue 1, clarifies that only U.S. citizens can vote in Arkansas elections. While that’s already the law, Hammer says the amendment is needed to prevent municipalities from loosening restrictions.
“Really where the foundations of all elections begin is at the local level. So you have some states that are allowing non-citizens to vote for positions like school board, city alderman, those levels that touch the local area more than ever. And that’s not right.”
Grappe says the amendment isn’t needed, since Arkansas has more safeguards than some other states in regard to non-citizen voting. Pakko goes a step further.
“Generally speaking, I’m kind of skeptical about any of the initiatives that are proposed by the legislature, and this one in particular just seems designed to gain public favor, gain some public support, and perhaps identify those opponents of it.”
One area where all candidates agree is the need for more outreach to young people. Hammer supports utilizing a new volunteer hours requirement in the Arkansas LEARNS Act to get more young people to serve as poll workers. Grappe says she’d hold a series of forums to help demystify democracy.
“You hear so much about the apathy of the youth. I’m not buying that at all, because I talk to young people all over the state and they want to plug in, but they’re intimidated by the system because of some of the ugliness.”
Along with elections, the secretary of state’s office oversees business registration. All three candidates support making the process easier for business owners, including a re-vamp of the website’s user interface. Hammer says he’d hire a counselor to walk owners through the process of starting, and even ending, their business.
The secretary of state’s third job is overseeing the grounds of the Arkansas State Capitol. All three candidates cite the need for more parking spots. Grappe would seek to display the contributions of rural communities for visitors to the historic building. Pakko says his status as a third-party candidate means he’d hire only the best staffers, regardless of party affiliation. And Hammer says he’s already overseen efforts to reorganize Senate committee rooms and make them more accessible to visitors.
When he’s not running for office, Michael Pakko is Chief Economist and State Economic Forecaster at the Arkansas Economic Development Institute, housed at UA Little Rock. He says his training as an economist informs his approach to the democratic process.
“Just having more choices, more diversity of opinion, more open discussion of the issues rather than just the back-and-forth between the two parties which ends up really appealing to our fears of the other candidate, that they’ll be the end of American way of life as we know it or something like that.”
Grappe’s background is in business, managing hundreds of people. The North Star of her campaign is Arkansas’ official state motto: “Regnat Populus,” or “The People Rule.”
“It’s a failure of the secretary of state for something to get to the very end of a ballot process where more than 100,000 people say they want to vote on something, and then to find that there is a technical problem. I believe that this is a process issue, and I think it’s intentional. I do believe the system is rigged right now.”
State Sen. Kim Hammer, a Baptist minister for nearly half a century, sees this new role as a continuation of his work serving the people of Arkansas.
“A person’s going to work as hard as they want to work, and I think I’ve got a proven reputation of being a hard worker, giving and honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay. And one of the things I want to do is just get in there and hit the ground running, continue to be a servant of the public.”
Early voting kicks off October 19.
