Responsive Gov’s Grade TL;DR

Arkansas broke its legislative silence this session with a suite of reforms that offered both concessions and constraints. The State Legislature expanded the franchise by increasing early voting opportunities in key cities, yet significantly countered this progress with a burdensome witness requirement for mail-in voters. This ambivalent record resulted in a C+ rating.

Looking Back

Where Arkansas Started at the Beginning of 2025

• Automatic Voter Registration: No
• Online Voter Registration: No
• Same-Day Registration: No
• Restoration of Rights: Parole and/or Probation Disenfranchisement
• Vote by Mail: Excuse-Only
• Electronic Registration Information Center Member: No
• Early Voting Opportunities: Regular Ballot Early Voting
• ID Requirements: Strict Non-Photo ID

Relying on the Cost of Voting Index for Arkansas as of 2024, we considered the state a bottom tier state for pre-existing voting policy and compared its 2025 activity against other bottom tier states.

How Our Tier Compares

• COVI (2024): 49th
• EPI Score (2022): 50th

2025: This Past Year

Legislative Action

The Arkansas Legislature made several significant changes to election laws during the 2025 session.

• HB 1878 requires county election boards to hold early voting at a polling site in every city with a population of more than 15,000 people where the county clerk is not conducting early voting.
• SB 304 allows an existing voter from one county to update their registration to their new county through Election Day.
• SB 296 allows a county board of election commissioners to increase the number of early voting sites beyond what was offered in the previous general election.
• HB 1925 adds a witness signature requirement to absentee ballot envelopes.
• SB 479 requires individuals assisting voters to provide acceptable ID at the polls before they will be allowed to assist a voter in casting their ballot. The assistant must also have their info documented by a poll worker on site.
• HB 1870 requires federal courts to provide info on disqualified jurors to the secretary of state to use for list maintenance purposes.
• SB 299 requires a staff member of a long-term or residential care facility to witness the facility administrator provide voting assistance to any residents of the facility to ensure the assistance is provided “without comment or interpretation.”
• SB 272 prohibits voter registration applications from having the party affiliation field pre-filled before they are provided to applicants.
• SB 294 requires that if the State Board of Election Commissioners finds that a randomly selected county audit of a preferential primary or general election found less than 100% accuracy in the results, the county must undergo another audit for the next preferential primary or general election.
• HB 1693 authorizes the State Election Board to establish rules for the duplication of damaged or defective ballots.
• SB 578 allows county election boards to authorize the emergency closure of early voting sites because of inclement weather, as is currently allowed with Election Day polling sites. However, the law also requires at least one early voting site in the county seat remain open regardless of the weather.
• SB 293 requires polling sites to post various notices to voters including signage warning that “CROSSOVER VOTING IS A CRIME.” Crossover voting occurs when someone casts a vote in the primary for one political party and then casts a vote in the runoff election for another political party’s primary.
• SB 295 provides state funding for the compensation of certified election monitors of the State Board of Election Commissioners.