How to Fill Out and Submit the Arkansas Voter Registration Application

To register to vote in Arkansas, fill out the one-page paper Arkansas voter registration application and get it to your county clerk at least 30 days before the election you want to vote in. There is no online registration option. You can pick up the form at your county clerk’s office, a revenue or DMV office, a public library, a disability services agency, or a military recruitment office, or download it from the Secretary of State’s website. It is free, and most people finish it in a few minutes with a driver’s license or Social Security number in hand.

Who Can Register

Four eligibility questions sit at the top of the form. If your honest answers don’t line up, the form tells you to stop.

You are a U.S. citizen and an Arkansas resident at the address you list.
You will be at least 18 years old by the next Election Day. You can submit the form before your 18th birthday so long as you’ll turn 18 on or before that election.
You have not been adjudged mentally incompetent by a court.
You are not currently serving a felony sentence. That includes active probation or parole and any unpaid court-ordered fines, costs, or restitution.

These rules come from Amendment 51 of the Arkansas Constitution,¹ and the 30-day registration window is set by Arkansas Code 7-5-201.²

Where to Get the Form

The application is available at your county clerk’s office, local revenue and DMV offices, public libraries, disability service agencies, and military recruitment offices. You can also download and print it from the Arkansas Secretary of State’s website. Any of these sources gives you the same one-page form.

How to Fill It Out

Start at the top by checking the box that matches your situation: new registration, name change, address change, or party change. First-time registrants check “This is a new registration.”

Personal Information

Enter your title, last name, first name, middle name, and any suffix. Fill in your date of birth as month, day, and year. Home phone, work phone, and email are optional, but they give the clerk a way to reach you if something on the form is unclear.

Residential and Mailing Addresses

Write your residential address, meaning the place where you actually live, including any apartment or lot number, city or town, county, state, and ZIP code. That address determines your precinct and polling place. If your mail goes somewhere else, like a P.O. box, fill in the mailing address section below. Leave it blank and the clerk will send everything to your residence.

Identification Number

You must check one of three boxes and provide the matching number:

Your Arkansas driver’s license number.
The last four digits of your Social Security number, if you don’t have an Arkansas driver’s license.
Neither, if you have no driver’s license and no Social Security number.

A driver’s license number or SSN that matches state records exempts you from the extra identification step first-time mail registrants would otherwise face under the Help America Vote Act.³ If you check “neither,” include a copy of a current photo ID or a document showing your name and address (a utility bill, bank statement, government check, or paycheck) with the form, or bring one of those documents the first time you vote.

Party Affiliation

Party affiliation is optional. Arkansas runs open primaries, so you can leave this blank and still choose which party’s ballot to request at the polls.

Signature

Answer the four eligibility checkboxes, then sign and date the form. The signature line warns that false information can bring a fine of up to $10,000 and up to 10 years of imprisonment under combined state and federal law.³ If you can’t sign your name, someone can help, and that person writes their own name, address, and phone number on the form.

How to Submit the Form

You have two main ways to turn it in.

In person at your county clerk’s office. This is the fastest and safest route, especially near a deadline, because staff can catch missing or illegible entries while you’re there. The Secretary of State publishes a directory of all 75 county clerks with addresses and phone numbers.
By mail, to your county clerk or to the Secretary of State’s Elections Division. The postmark counts as your submission date, so a form postmarked 30 days before the election qualifies even if it arrives a few days later.⁴

You can also pick up and hand in the form at a revenue or DMV office, a public library, a disability service agency, or a military recruitment office. Those agencies are required to accept completed applications under the National Voter Registration Act.⁵

If you filled out the form at a voter registration drive, the organizers must submit it to the county clerk or Secretary of State within 21 days of the date on the application, or no later than 30 days before the next election, whichever comes first.⁴

The 30-Day Deadline

Your application must be received by the county clerk, or postmarked if mailed, at least 30 days before the election you want to vote in.² Miss it and you sit out that election, though your application still goes through for future ones. When the deadline is close, the Secretary of State recommends applying in person at your county clerk’s office rather than relying on the mail.⁴

After You Submit

Once the clerk has your form, staff verify your information against state records. Processing can take up to several weeks.⁴ When everything checks out, you’ll get a personalized voter registration card in the mail listing your precinct number and the physical address of your polling place. Keep it.

Don’t consider yourself registered until that card arrives. If two weeks pass with nothing, check your status on the Arkansas VoterView portal at voterview.ar-nova.org or call your county clerk.⁶ VoterView shows whether your registration is active and where you’re assigned to vote.

Updating an Existing Registration

Use the same one-page form to change your name, address, or party. Check the appropriate box at the top and fill in your current details.⁷

Address changes have a tighter deadline than new registrations. If you move to a different county, your updated application must reach the new county’s clerk no later than four days before an election. Otherwise you won’t be eligible to vote in that county for that election.⁷ Name changes after a marriage, divorce, or court order follow the same submit-to-the-clerk process.

Photo ID at the Polls

Registering is only half of it. When you vote in person, during early voting or on Election Day, you will be asked to show an approved form of photo identification.⁸ Without one you can still cast a provisional ballot, but it will only count if you get acceptable ID to the county clerk by a set deadline after the election.

Military and Overseas Voters

Arkansas residents in the military or living abroad can use the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) instead of the state form. The FPCA works as both a registration application and an absentee ballot request.⁹ Download it at fvap.gov, fill it out, and send it to your county clerk in Arkansas. The same 30-day deadline applies.¹⁰ The Federal Voting Assistance Program recommends sending in a new FPCA every January and whenever you move.¹¹

Re-Registering After a Felony

A felony conviction does not permanently take away your right to vote in Arkansas. Once you’ve fully completed your sentence, you can register again, but you have to bring proof to your county clerk. You need documentation that you have been discharged from probation or parole, paid all probation and parole fees, served the full term of imprisonment, and paid all court costs, fines, and restitution.¹² Gather your discharge paperwork from the Department of Community Correction or the court that handled your case, then take it along with a completed voter registration application to the voter registration department at the clerk’s office. If the proof is in order, the clerk processes the application like any other new registration.

Penalties for False Information

The signature block warns that providing false information can bring a fine of up to $10,000 and up to 10 years of imprisonment under combined state and federal law.³ Federally, knowingly submitting a fraudulent voter registration application carries up to five years in prison.¹³ A non-citizen who votes in a federal election faces up to one year in prison and a fine.¹⁴ Under Arkansas law, swearing falsely to any oath related to voter qualifications is a Class A misdemeanor.¹⁵

1
Justia. Arkansas Constitution Amendment 51 – Voter Registration
2
Justia. Arkansas Code 7-5-201 – Voter Qualification
3
Arkansas Secretary of State. Arkansas Voter Registration Application
4
Arkansas Secretary of State. Voter Registration Information
5
U.S. Department of Justice. The National Voter Registration Act Of 1993
6
Pulaski County Circuit Clerk. Voter Registration
7
Arkansas Secretary of State. Frequently Asked Questions
8
Arkansas Secretary of State. Early Voting Information
9
Federal Voting Assistance Program. Federal Voting Assistance Program
10
Arkansas Secretary of State. Military and Overseas Voters
11
Federal Voting Assistance Program. How to Vote Absentee From Abroad
12
Arkansas State University. Restoration of Voting Rights for Convicted Felons in AR
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 52 USC 20511 – Criminal Penalties
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 611 – Voting by Aliens
15
FindLaw. Arkansas Code Title 7 Elections 7-1-103