LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — On Thursday, dozens of people stood before the state board of election commissioners to share why Arkansas should accept e-signatures on voter registration forms and petitions.
This follows the board's decision in April to deny their use altogether.
Several Arkansans voiced their concerns with the board on this proposed rule.
"I'm angry, I'm young... there's a whole bunch of us out there, and you guys aren't listening," one person said. We too fear our democracy, and we too dissect this is not OK, and we're not going anywhere."
In an April meeting, the board clarified that the purpose of this ruling is to ensure that requiring physical signatures aligns with the Arkansas constitution and prevents discrepancies between physical and electronic signatures.
However, Arkansans disagreed and said the new rule targets certain groups like minorities, those in rural areas and people with disabilities.
"I don't see any difference between this proposed rule and the utilization of Jim Crow rules in the past to disqualify people of color," another person said.
One person said the world is evolving daily, and if they sign our taxes electronically and sign checks, then we shouldn't require people to sign physically in person.
"Requiring someone to drive and spend $3.90 for a gallon of gas so they can get over there and fill out a piece of paper," the person said. We have websites, we have the internet. Can we just take advantage of that and allow people to use the same capabilities that they have at their house?"
A well-known group advocating for the change to using electronic signatures for voter registration is Get Loud Arkansas. Toney Orr, the chairman of the board, said their organization successfully gathered e-signatures until January before being ordered to stop and has seen firsthand how effective this is.
"Arkansas ranked in this country in voter registration, the lowest turnout for voter registration," Orr said. "Get Loud in its inception was trying to raise that awareness of voter registration, but also increase the numbers of voters registered... to hear people talk about voter registration in the room."
Orr said he hopes the elected officials will consider everything he says, as they want to lift Arkansans up and not be a state that falls behind.