Petition drives look to gather signatures

LITTLE ROCK, AR - At this time of year, some people want your vote, and others want your signature.

Asked a man representing the Arkansas Counts group at a polling site in Little Rock, "can I bother you for a second to talk about a petition?"

Asked a woman representing the Regnat Populus group, "would you be interested in signing our petition?"

Both groups are among more than a dozen that hope to get various issues on the November ballot, but to do that, they'll need to gather thousands of signatures first.

"Being at the polling places, people that are coming out are registered voters," explained Debbie Goolsby of the Regnat Populus group, "and cause obviously you have to be a registered voter to sign the petition."

Fact is though, the voter turn-out at this precinct is low. Good thing then that Goolsby never planned on this being her big signature-gathering location.

"I think Riverfest will be," she said. "Because there will be so many people there."

That's right, Riverfest. It's known more for play than politics but as Goolsby found out - with several people refusing to listen to her plea for their signature - the crowd might be more agreeable.

Groups that hope to have acts or amendments on the November ballot have until early July to collect the necessary number of signatures. For a constitutional ammendment, the required number of signatures is 78,133. For an initiated act, 62,507 signatures are required.