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If you’re a member of the Republican Party of Arkansas and you’ve already had your county convention, you may have found that night a bit (or more than a bit) confusing. Your chairman likely called to order two or even three separate meetings. There was likely one person leading the meeting during part of the evening, and someone else leading the meeting at other times.
What was going on?
The structure of political parties in Arkansas is established by Arkansas law (Ark. Code Ann. §§ 7-3-101 — 7-3-108), “Chapter 3 – POLITICAL PARTIES.” This part of the law (among other things) lays out the system whereby county committees of all parties are elected during the statewide primary elections in even numbered years.
Because of this, membership on the County Republican Committee is an elected position which lasts for two years, and an entirely new membership is formed after each primary election.
The night of your 2026 county convention*, your county committee* which was elected in the 2024 primary election starts the night holding its last meeting and adjourns sine die (sign-ee die-ee), a Latin phrase which means “without day.” When a deliberative body such as a committee adjourns sine die, that body is dissolved and has no further authority. (Some committees may choose to hold this final meeting the month before.)
Next your county holds its convention (which is also required under Ark Code §§ 7-3-101 – 7-3-108). The primary purpose of the County Convention is to elect State Convention delegates and two members to the State Committee, as described here. This is the most likely time to see someone other than your regular chairman leading the meeting.
Finally (the second or third meeting of the evening), your county holds the first meeting of the new county committee, which was just elected in the 2026 primary election. Until the new committee forms, your political party has no presence in your county – since the previous county committee has been dissolved.
Initially, your new 2026-2028 county committee will be only those who filed for office at the county courthouse in November of 2025 and were elected during the 2026 Republican Primary. However, the committee is empowered to fill its own vacancies. So if there are electors within the community who would like to participate, they can be elected by the 2026-2028 committee into membership after it is formed.
Maximum membership in a county committee is determined by RPA Rules, Article 2, Section 2.D – “A County Committee shall be allowed one at-large member for every 50 votes cast, or major fraction thereof, in their county for the Republican nominee for Governor in the most recent gubernatorial election, plus one precinct member from each precinct in the respective county.”
So, if County A had 1049 votes for the Republican candidate for Governor in the last election, and it has 10 election precincts, then County A is allotted 21 at-large members plus 1 precinct member from each of its 10 election precincts, for a total of 31 county committee members.
The primary job of the first meeting of the new county committee is to elect District Members. If you look at the party structure pictured at the bottom of this article, you will see that each Congressional District has a committee which is made up from the various counties within that district. The formula dictating the makeup of district committees can be found in RPA Rules, Article 3, Section 2.A. Each county is represented at the District by: the county chairman; District Committeeman and District Committeewoman; one at-large member from each county “for each 2,000 votes, or major fraction thereof, cast for the Republican nominee for governor in the last preceding gubernatorial general election”; the First Vice President/Chairman of each Republican Women, College Republican, and Young Republican’s club.
And finally, the bit that people tend to find confusing:
From RPA Rules Article 3, Section 2.A.4:
“Each elected Republican countywide official and Justice of the Peace from each county in the District.
a. Each countywide official and Justice of the Peace shall, at the time of filing for public office, indicate in writing if he or she wishes to be a member of the District Committee. Positions not claimed shall be filled at the organizational meeting of the County Committee following the Biennial County Convention.”
In other words, for each countywide office or JP office held by a Republican in your county, your county gets to have a seat on the District Committee. If said officials claim their district seat in writing at the time they file for office, then the district seats go to those specific people. Otherwise, your county committee elects people to fill those seats.
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*Note: To assist in more easily understanding what is going on with the various terms used for meetings, a committee has “members” and a convention has “delegates.” These terms are sometimes confusing, but keeping the differences in mind will assist in understanding why different terms are used as well as their purpose.
**How the Math Works:
**Some counties systematically ask candidates to claim their district seats during filing, but this is not required.
**Note that those who filed in November of 2025 will not be district members until they actually become officials in January 2027 (if elected).
Returning to County A with its 1049 votes for governor – if County A has a Republican Judge and Republican Assessor, and 5 Republican JP’s, and only 1 JP claimed his seat at filing, then County A must elect:
1. District Committeeman
2. District Committeewoman
3. ONE at-large District member
4. 6 members to fill the vacancies for the 2 countywide+4 JP seats held by Republicans.
