Second Arkansas ballot measure rejected for failing to meet reading-level standard

[RandySF]

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin on Monday said he could not certify a proposed constitutional amendment related to direct democracy because it violates a new state law that prohibits ballot titles from being written above an eighth-grade reading level.

Act 602, which became law in April, prohibits the attorney general from certifying a proposed ballot title with a reading level above eighth grade as determined by the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level formula. The test uses word complexity and sentence lengths to calculate what grade of education is needed to comprehend written material.

“The ballot title you have submitted ranks at grade 11.5. Thus, your ballot title requires significant revisions before it complies with the Act,” according to Monday’s opinion, which was prepared by Assistant Attorney General Jodie Keener and approved by Griffin.

Monday’s opinion identified additional issues with the proposal, including ambiguity regarding the Arkansas General Assembly’s authority and how conflicting measures become law.



https://arkansasadvocate.com/2025/06/02/second-arkansas-ballot-measure-rejected-for-failing-to-meet-reading-level-standard/

[pfitz59]

1. Dumbing down by statute

how low can we go

[JT45242]

2. Purposeful ignorance and inappropriate use of FK ratings

Text complexity measures like the Flesh Kincaid should never be used on less than about 100 standard words (600.characters including spaces and punctuation). Anything less will be greatly skewed by one or two polysyllabic words.

The title will be a sentence fragment most likely or one complete sentence at best.

Amendment alone as a 9 letter three syllable word will push FK ratings of a single simple sentence significantly. Add to that the need for specific legal language and you made amendment to your state constitution or other statewide initiative nearly impossible.