SB551

Senate Bill 551 proposes several amendments to Arkansas law regarding the canvassing process for local option election petitions. The bill mandates that canvassers verify a potential petitioner's identity using photo identification before collecting a signature. It requires that signers either read the ballot title themselves or have it read aloud to them in the presence of the canvasser. The bill also establishes new disclosure requirements for canvassers to inform signers that petition fraud is a criminal offense. Furthermore, it creates stricter penalties and procedural hurdles, such as requiring canvassers to file a 'true affidavit' of compliance with election laws, failure of which may result in signatures not being counted. County clerks are granted the authority to disregard signatures if they find, by a preponderance of the evidence, that a canvasser violated relevant laws. Finally, the bill updates the verification form for petitions to incorporate these new requirements.