The Arkansas Republican State Convention met on Saturday, June 8th in Rogers. It is the body within the RPA that has the final authority in all party matters. What most readers want to know is: Were changes made to the state party platform? Members of Republican County Committees may also be interested in whether there were any changes to RPA rules. We will list both the platform and rules changes.
Before we do that, we want to clarify a misunderstanding about the convention’s election of a chair. The convention elected Jennifer Lancaster to be the chair of the convention. No, that does not mean she replaced Joseph Wood. Joseph Wood is still the state party chair. Jennifer Lancaster was only elected to chair the meeting of the State Convention. During the convention, Joseph Wood was also elected as one of Arkansas’ six Republican Presidential Electors who will cast Arkansas’ vote for President of the United States.
PLATFORM CHANGES
The platform states the Arkansas Republican Party position on a number of important issues for our state. Several proposed platform changes had been timely filed and the following were considered and passed by the Convention.
- Support for changing the laws on judicial election to allow a candidate to run as a political party candidate.
- Opposing government entities depositing public funds in any financial institutions that use Environmental Social Governance (ESG) or other social engineering criteria to discriminate against the free will of individuals or businesses. Further, the party vehemently oppose the establishment and utilization of any private or governmental systems that establish the practices and practical use of a “social credit score.”
- The platform had stated support for overturning Roe v. Wade which expanded abortions. The overturning of Roe v. Wade was accomplished by U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson. Therefore, the platform was updated to express support for the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson.
- Opposition to globalist organizations such as the World Health Organization, World Economic Forum, and United Nations usurping the rights of Arkansans.
- Support for medical freedom and economic freedom.
- Support for Arkansas’ Freedom of Information Act which provides transparency in government.
- Support for election integrity and the use of paper ballots.
CHANGES TO PARTY RULES
- Adopted a closed Republican Primary. This change will be implemented in the future. Closed party primaries had already been adopted as part of the 2022 platform. To begin the process of transitioning to a closed party primary, a rules change was necessary. During the first election cycle when a closed primary is implemented, a voter will be allowed to register as a Republican on the same day the person votes.
- Adopted a rule that once Republican primaries are implemented, a Republican candidate must be a registered Republican. It allows registration even on the day of filing as a Republican candidate.
- Adopted a rule providing that certain elected officials will continue to be members of the State Committee but will not be voting members. It was explained that this was consistent with the practice in most states and in the National Republican Convention whereby certain elected officials do not hold voting power on the national committee. However, elected officials may still run for the voting positions on the State Committee just like other county committee members.
- Adopted a rule to eliminate paperwork for Republican County elected officials by automatically adding them as ex officio members of the Republican Congressional District Committee. Constables are added to the list of ex officio members of the District Committee. It also adds additional members from each county to their District Committee based on the number of Republicans elected in a county to a countywide office, Justice of the Peace, or Constable.
- Adopted a rule to change the composition of the Platform and Rules Committees. Each of the four District Committees will elect three members to the Platform and Rules Committees. (required to be members of their county committee.) The Party Chair will appoint the chair of the committee. Before this rule change, the State Party Chair appointed the entire committee.
In addition to the passage of the above submissions, a resolution previously submitted to the Platform Committee also passed. That resolution defines eligibility for service on the Rules committee.
Republican State Convention meets every even numbered year. The delegates to the State Convention are elected by each county’s Republican County Convention which is a convention conducted by the County Committee.
More information concerning these rules and amendments may be found on Conduit News within its series of articles concerning the upcoming RPA Convention business.
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