Secretary Of State Says Minimum Wage Proposal Qualified For November Ballot

Less than a week after certifying an alcohol expansion initiative, Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin said that a proposed ballot measure to raise the state’s minimum wage has qualified for the November general election.

Martin tweeted from his state account on Wednesday, “An Act to Increase the Arkansas Minimum Wage makes general election ballot.”

Give Arkansas A Raise Now, the group pushing for a hike in the state minimum wage from its current level of $6.25 per hour to $8.50 per hour over the next three years, was informed on Wednesday that it had met the signature threshold to qualify for the fall ballot.

The Secretary of State will certify the proposed amendment to the County Boards of Election Commissioners and it should qualify as Issue No. 5 on the November 4, 2014 ballot.

Give Arkansas A Raise Now and its signature collection firm, The Markham Group, turned in an additional 69,208 signatures nearly three weeks ago to the Secretary of State’s office. Those additional signatures complimented the original 62,507 the group submitted in July.

Talk Business & Politics will update this story later today.