The Arkansas Senate has endorsed the secretary of state's wording of three proposed constitutional amendments legislators have referred to voters, after questions were raised about who had the authority to prepare the ballot measures' language.
The Senate on Tuesday voted 25-8 to support the ballot titles and popular names selected by Secretary of State Mark Martin's office for the three proposals that the Legislature voted last year to put on the 2014 ballot.
Martin's office prepared the language after a new law took away the attorney general's authority to prepare the measures' "popular names" that appear on the ballot.
Republican Sen. Jon Woods said the non-binding resolution was to help the state defend the wording of the measures if they're challenged in court.
