The Arkansas State Capitol. (Dwain Hebda/Arkansas Advocate)
Two new Arkansas policies approved by lawmakers Friday continue to raise concerns among activists as potentially suppressive measures: one limiting the use of electronic signatures on voter registration forms and one eliminating the gender-neutral “X” marker on driver’s licenses.
Earlier this year, the voter advocacy group Get Loud Arkansas created a popular online voter registration tool that included an electronic signature. That same tool led the State Board of Election Commissioners to implement an emergency rule prohibiting the digital mark in April.
The rule requires “wet,” or pen-on-paper, signatures for voter registration forms, with exceptions for forms completed at certain state agencies, such as the DMV.
Get Loud’s online portal has since been amended to no longer include an electronic signature, but the organization is leading a lawsuit challenging the rule , calling it a tool of voter suppression. The suit alleges first-time voters, rural Arkansans and people with disabilities will be disproportionately affected by the rule.
It’s one of those things where Arkansas has been consistently behind the times and refused to modernize.
– Christian Adcock, Disability Rights Arkansas voter rights specialist on the limiting of electronic signatures for voter registration
Proponents of the rule argued it creates consistency across all county clerk offices, since some clerks previously accepted electronic signatures while others rejected them.
However, electronic signatures are both simple and secure, and both major political parties could benefit from allowing electronic signatures for voter registration forms, said Toney Orr, chairman of the board for Get Loud Arkansas.
“When you think about the political climate in this state, this is an opportunity for the state of Arkansas to stand up and say we don’t want to go backward, we want to go forward, we want to put things in place that are helpful to so many people… and for Arkansas not to step up is really disappointing,” Orr said.
Arkansas’ voter registration and turnout numbers are consistently low compared to other states. Arkansas is one of seven states that does not have an online voter registration tool.
Visually impaired Arkansans benefit from online voter registration because such a tool would be aided by screen-reading technology, and people who struggle with mobility or manual dexterity issues might have trouble putting pen to paper, said Christian Adcock, Disability Rights Arkansas’ voter rights specialist.
“A lot of times, the electronic option would be the only way to fill out a voter registration form unaided,” Adcock said. “If they don’t want their registration to be anyone’s business, that’s not going to be an option for them… It’s one of those things where Arkansas has been consistently behind the times and refused to modernize.”
Orr said advocates are going to have to respond accordingly to the “old-school” policy by knocking on doors and connecting with people in person to inform them of the change and make sure they are registered to vote.
“It would be a lot easier and better if the rule wasn’t implemented, but at the end of the day, you have to look at [how] there was a time where we didn’t have electronic signatures, so you have to get out there and do the work,” Orr said.
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Gender on driver’s licenses
The new rule for driver’s licenses and state-issued IDs prohibits the use of an “X,” which has been accepted since 2010, to indicate someone’s gender in place of “M” or “F.” It also restricts the use of a blank space as a gender marker.
The rule is meant to prevent threats to law enforcement officers’ safety, Department of Finance and Administration officials said when the gender-neutral policy was initially rescinded in March.
Many Arkansans, including transgender and nonbinary individuals, have said the policy is harmful to the transgender community and will actually create confusion if someone’s identifying documents and physical appearance conflict with each other.
“The right to self-identify is really important to Arkansans, and even if it’s a small portion [of the population], it’s nothing to shake your head at,” said Carter Kirby, a transgender 20-year-old with an X on their driver’s license.
Arkansas had been one of 22 states, in addition to Washington D.C., to allow an X designation on a driver’s license in place of “M” and “F.”
Finance and Administration Secretary Jim Hudson said in March that he was not aware of any harm done by the gender-neutral policy in the 14 years it was in place. Nearly a dozen people reiterated this point when urging finance department officials in June not to reverse the policy.
Some speakers told the department that the rule created a “bureaucratic nightmare” for those trying to renew expired driver’s licenses or update their identifying information such as a name change or a new address after moving.
They really want trans people to be invisible in this state.
– Carter Kirby, 20, who has a gender-neutral X marker on their driver's license
Kirby received the X marker upon request when they first got their license at the age of 17, they said, and renewing the license will lead to the “disheartening” reality of an inaccurate gender marker.
“I got a letter [from the finance department] that said it would have to be something that’s corroborated by my birth certificate, so I expect it to have a big F on there,” Kirby said. “I don’t really get a say in it anymore.”
In addition to a birth certificate, the rule states that passports or another “identification document issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security” can be the corroborating document for gender information on IDs.
The federal government allows X as a gender marker on passports, and birth certificates can be legally amended. The rule allows for amended birth certificates to be used as identifying documents while obtaining or renewing a driver’s license.
The final section of the rule says the state Office of Driver Services may amend its records of unexpired driver’s licenses with the male or female gender marker instead of X, using other records the office has on file, and notify the license holder accordingly.
This “appears to be an attempt to retroactively strike the X gender marker” from state records, said Richelle Brittain, an attorney and a transgender woman, at the June finance department hearing.
Brittain also mentioned the variety of 2023 state laws that restricted the activities of transgender Arkansans, including the uses of pronouns and bathrooms in public schools and transgender minors’ access to health care .
Last year, Kirby spoke against the health care bill before a legislative committee and against the Saline County Quorum Court’s successful attempt to control the local library .
“With the attacks on public library access and what sorts of books we should have in libraries and what’s available to kids, it doesn’t surprise me that they would try to strike [the X] from the public record altogether,” Kirby said. “They really want trans people to be invisible in this state.”
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