Arkansas has always had open primaries. But starting in 2026, registered Democrats won’t be able to vote in Republican primaries. Several years ago the state added a question about party membership to the voter registration form. The vast majority of Arkansas voters haven’t had to use the new form, so they continue to be unaffiliated with any party. But the Arkansas Republican Party recently passed a rule that says people who have registered with a party can’t vote in future Republican primaries, unless of course they had joined the Republican Party.
There are 86,497 registered Democrats, 742 registered Libertarians, and 120 registered Greens, and they won’t be able to vote in future Republican primaries. However, they can change their registration at any time, even as late as primary day.
This does not sound very effective unless all parties are holding primaries or nominating conventions on the exact same day.
Must you be a registered Republican to vote? It only says you can’t be from another party.
What is the source for this? I’m not sure that this can just happen without the General Assembly making a statutory change.
@EDP,
Arkansas statute says that parties may set additional qualification:
§ 7-7-307
(a) Each political party may establish by party rules additional qualifications to those established by § 7-5-201 for eligibility to vote in primary elections of the party.
(b) However, any additional qualifications established by a political party shall comply with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.
@JB,
Primaries in Arkansas are conducted by the state.
I’m not sure how primaries in Arkansas are conducted. I found a news article without full access that said Democrats could not be offered a cross-over ballot on a _tablet_.
It appears that there are different factions in the Republican Party of Arkansas (RPA) fighting over control of the conch.
In May 2024, at the state convention, the state party chair who was the temporary chair of the convention was replaced by the leader of an insurgent faction, and the convention then adopted a rule requiring party affiliation to vote in the Republican primary.
The state (executive) committee said that the convention had exceeded its authority in approving rules that had not been submitted in advance. The Secretary of State who had originally indicated that he would implement the rule then said that it appeared that the RPA was not sure what it wanted.
In August 2024, some RPA convention delegates filed suit in federal district court against the RPA party chair and the Secretary of State to enforce the rule approved by the convention. The case was dismissed in May 2025, with the judge saying it was not the role of the federal judiciary to interpret Arkansas law nor arbitrate internal party disputes.
Incidentally, in December 2024 the state committee dissolved the Saline County Republican Committee and barred the county committee chair from holding party office for 20 years. She was also the chair of the state convention in 2024.
But in June 2025, the state committee apparently approved a rule barring registered Democrats from voting in the Republican primary. This may be an attempt to resolve the dispute since only 5% of voters are registered Democrats (compared to 7% registered Republicans).
Video of standing count in action (though it might technically have been a TKO).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSBLPyfxwGk
Standing Count is the best system.
Mr. Riley, thanks for all this additional information. I have lived in Arkansas since 2011, and I cannot recall a time until now when a party (or at least a party faction) tried to impose extra criteria on a publicly-run primary election. I am interested to see what happens next.
@EDP,
How are elections in Arkansas conducted? Do all voters statewide use the same voting machine. In Texas, each county chooses its own voting equipment.
How are primaries in Arkansas conducted? In Texas you either go to the Republican or Democratic polling place and vote; or if it is a joint primary you go to the common polling place and state if you want to vote in the Republican or Democratic primary and the voting machine is set up for that party and your residential location.
One of the articles said that Democrats would not be offered a cross-over ballot on a tablet. Do voters choose a primary in secret? In some States (e.g. Michigan, Wisconsin, Montana, Hawai’i) the voter is given a ballot with all parties on it, and they select one. Depending on the State, if a voter votes for multiple parties the ballot is voided, or there is a way to determine which votes are counted.