---
type: "Bill"
title: "TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING ABSENTEE BALLOTS; AND TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING ELECTIONS."
description: "TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING ABSENTEE BALLOTS; AND TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING ELECTIONS."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ar"
legislature: "Arkansas Legislature"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 643"
citation: "Arkansas SB 643 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["K. Hammer", "Ladyman"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 15
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2021-04-06T20:38:40+00:00"
last_action: "2021-04-29T18:01:15+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/532f9525-8853-4a2c-b68d-5f66f408b9c1"
source_url: "ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/SessionInformation/LegislativeMeasures.txt"
source_hash: "e3c7b212cdeb89f5582b132ca63882d067a427461ff42d538fad5d7ba157f27a"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ar"]
---

# Arkansas SB 643 (2021) — TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING ABSENTEE BALLOTS; AND TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING ELECTIONS.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **SB 643** (committee substitute) — [source](ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/2021R/Public/Searchable/SB643.pdf)

## Votes

- Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. — **65–25** (pass) · lower
- Read the third time and passed. — **25–8** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- K. Hammer — primary (person)
- Ladyman — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-04-06T20:38:40+00:00** Filed `introduction`
- **2021-04-06T22:36:45+00:00** Read first time, rules suspended, read second time, referred to STATE AGENCIES & GOVT'L AFFAIRS-SENATE `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-12T18:16:36+00:00** Returned by the Committee, with the recommendation that it Do Pass `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-04-13T18:59:48+00:00** Read the third time and passed. `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-04-13T19:00:11+00:00** Ordered immediately transmitted to the House.
- **2021-04-13T21:06:25+00:00** RECEIVED FROM THE SENATE
- **2021-04-13T22:14:38+00:00** Read the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and referred to the Committee on STATE AGENCIES & GOVT'L AFFAIRS- HOUSE `reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-19T18:08:05+00:00** Returned by the Committee Do Pass `committee-passage`
- **2021-04-20T20:27:40+00:00** Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-04-20T20:27:47+00:00** Returned To the Senate as passed.
- **2021-04-20T23:02:28+00:00** Returned from the House as passed.
- **2021-04-20T23:02:34+00:00** ORDERED ENROLLED
- **2021-04-21T16:46:32+00:00** Reported correctly enrolled and ordered delivered to the Governor.
- **2021-04-21T16:46:39+00:00** DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR. `executive-receipt`
- **2021-04-29T18:01:15+00:00** Notification that SB643 is now Act 973 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/532f9525-8853-4a2c-b68d-5f66f408b9c1`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Arkansas legislature records).