Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Batson V. Kentucky Guidelines And The Use Of Peremptory Challenges In Arkansas Courts: A Case Study, Abigail Lindsey

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

The peremptory challenge is a method by which attorneys can strike a potential juror from the jury pool without a valid reason. With Batson v. Kentucky (1986), the Supreme Court ruled that peremptory challenges cannot be issued on the basis of race, however, there are many problems with the way this precedent has been followed in various states. The goal of this research is to analyze how Arkansas courts implement the Batson precedent. This research also studies whether the way in which Arkansas courts utilize the peremptory challenge creates ideologically imbalanced juries.

Women In Southern Politics: How The Southern Experience Shaped Two Contemporary Forces, Liza Montgomery

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Numerous books, papers, journals, articles, and newspapers have explored the human experience in the American South for many decades. Much of this recorded history and further academic and historical literature spans the time period since the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. Most of these works, while claiming to focus on the entire population, address only the life experiences of men while assuming their information pertains to the entire population. Although a portion of these accounts focus on the African American experience overall, just a fraction examines the female experience. In this paper I will be examining women’s political …

The Marianna Boycott: Healthcare, Political Organization, And Federal Intervention In The Arkansas Delta, Stephen James Franklin Iii

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Marianna Boycott was a thirteen month long civil rights boycott that took place in the Arkansas Delta town of Marianna from 1971 to 1972. The event shut down over twenty-five business, inflicted millions of dollars in economic damage, and forced people living in Lee County to address racial tensions that had been building for decades. This paper examines the Marianna Boycott as an expression of post-Civil Rights Movement conflict over what the various legislative victories of the 1960s meant for Black people in the rural south. This paper posits that while the Civil Rights laws of the era were …

The 2022 Arkansas Gubernatorial Election And The Impact Of High-Profile Conservative Women On Gender Perceptions, Frances Delacey

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

How does the presence of a high-profile female candidate impact citizen gender perceptions about women in politics, specifically conservative candidates? Studies aimed at finding which common identities voters will align with, whether it be gender or political party, have found that voters will be more likely to align with their party rather than gender. In The Clinton Effect? The (Non)Impact of a High-Profile Candidate on Gender Stereotypes it was found that voters primed for Clinton did not experience a difference in gender perceptions as compared to those not primed. Voters still carry biased views as they define appropriate attributes of …

Determinants Of Public Corruption In Arkansas And The Nation, Jason Neeley

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Through reviewing the existing scholarly literature on corruption, factors that seem to increase the likelihood or contribute to rising numbers in reported cases of corruption will be used to determine which factors are most highly correlated with the amount of reported public corruption in a state’s government. With this, one will gain knowledge on which states have the highest levels of reported corruption and what factors are present in the state that can help explain the high levels of corruption. This combination of relationships will answer the question as to what a state should look for to address issues related …

Understanding And Improving The System: The Effects Of Weighting On The Accuracy Of Political Polling In Arkansas, Beck Williams

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

In an effort to increase the accuracy of statewide political polling in Arkansas, we explore the statistical strategy of weighting with a focus on one yearly opinion poll: The Arkansas Poll. We conduct over 70 weighting experiments on the 2016 and 2020 Arkansas Polls using a variety of variables and opinion questions. From these experiments, we find that while some weighted variables tend to create larger changes, weighting typically results in a single-digit percentage change that does not substantially shift or “flip” the majorities. Due to a greater rate of change through weighting in the 2020 Poll compared to the …

The Shallow End Of The Deep South: Civil Rights Activism In Arkansas, 1865-1970, Sarah Riva

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

On April 7, 1968, Governor Winthrop Rockefeller claimed that “Arkansas today stands at the threshold of leading the nation...for a better America,” The Republican Arkansas Governor spoke on the steps of the state capitol at a memorial for the beloved civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. who had been assassinated three days earlier. Rockefeller’s claim that Arkansas could lead the nation came just two years after the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) formally ended its work in the state to improve racial equality. Their efforts had seen widespread acceptance of integrated public facilities, increased voter registration and more meaningful …

The Political Preferences Of Arkansas Farmers And Ranchers, Rachel J. Barry

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research was conducted to evaluate where farmers and ranchers find political information and assess their political preferences. By conducting a survey of Arkansas farmers and ranchers we were able to determine that they prefer face to face interaction as a source of information by large margins. They typically consult friends, peers, and extension agents where appropriate. Depending on the type of political information they are seeking (information about candidates as opposed to information about policy topics), they often used other types of information sources such as the internet and broadcast media. We also ascertained that farmers and ranchers have …

The Effect Of Signing Ballot Petitions On Turnout, Samuel Franklin Harper

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

In the Progressive Era, almost half of the U.S. states adopted the ballot initiative, the process by which citizens can petition to change their state’s laws or constitution independent of their state’s legislature. Many Progressives believed the initiative would have positive “educative effects” on voters, such as increasing voter turnout. Most studies show the Progressives’ hypothesis that the initiative would increase turnout was correct, but how and for whom the initiative increases turnout remains disputed. Using two Arkansas initiative petitions and the Arkansas voter registration file, I find that the act of signing a ballot initiative petition significantly increases the …

Beyond Coattails: Explaining John Paul Hammerschmidt's Victory In 1966, Jesse Ray Sims

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the campaign issues, demographic factors, and voting trends that helped Republican John Paul Hammerschmidt defeat incumbent Democratic congressman James W. Trimble in Arkansas’s third congressional district in 1966. Much of the historiography addressing this election largely neglects the historic significance of Hammerschmidt’s successful campaign and the factors contributing to his victory. Instead, historians primarily write about the election of Republican Winthrop Rockefeller to the governor’s office that year.

This thesis pieces together several theories on how Hammerschmidt defeated Trimble, including the effect of Winthrop Rockefeller’s coattails, the demographic changes taking place in the Ozarks beginning in the …

The Impact Of A Ballot Education Program On Arkansas Voters, Kristin Netterstrom Higgins

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The University of Arkansas Division Of Agriculture’s Public Policy Center has educated Arkansas voters about statewide ballot issues for 10 years. The ballot issue education program, was evaluated during the 2014 election cycle to determine the program’s impact on voters. This descriptive study sought to describe program participants, to determine knowledge transfer of county agents, to describe knowledge acquisition of program participants, and to measure whether people who attended Cooperative Extension Service presentations made informed choices on Election Day. Researchers found that program participants were mostly older, educated, White women. There were increases in knowledge among participants who read fact …

Feet In The South, Eyes To The West: Fort Smith Enters The Sunbelt, Adam Morrison Carson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the political realignment of Fort Smith, Arkansas and argues that the standard historiographical argument about the process of realignment does not explain what occurred in this city. Much of the historiography of political realignment currently revolves around the belief in a white backlash against the federal government and the national Democratic Party for their support of African American civil rights. Though historians have moved toward a "suburban synthesis" that downplays the backlash thesis, historians still argues that many white southerners moved to the suburbs to avoid integration.

I argue that this process did not occur in the …

The Political Landscape Of Hydraulic Fracturing: Methods Of Community Response In Central Arkansas, Alyssa M. Solis

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis looks at the current fracking debate on a national scale, before focusing specifically on how this debate is playing out in the landscape of Central Arkansas. Focusing on the lack of national regulation, the unique array of state regulations that have popped up are assessed in their effectiveness on the ground through speaking with residents of the area. The demographics of these residents are analyzed within an assessment of environmental injustice vulnerability. This ethnographic approach also compares the de jure v. de facto outcomes of these regulations through the narratives of residents working with organizations across the political …

"It Was Awful, But It Was Politics": Crittenden County And The Demise Of African American Political Participation, Krista Michelle Jones

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite the vast scholarship that exists discussing why Democrats sought restrictive suffrage laws, little attention has been given by historians to examine how concern over local government drove disfranchisement measures. This study examines how the authors of disfranchisement laws were influenced by what was happening in Crittenden County where African Americans, because of their numerical majority, wielded enough political power to determine election outcomes. In the years following the Civil War, African Americans established strong communities, educated themselves, secured independent institutions, and most importantly became active in politics. Because of their numerical majority, Crittenden's African Americans were elected to county …

Ticket Splitting In Arkansas Elections, Chase Carmichael

Honors Theses

The Republican Party is sweeping the South, or is it? Throughout the Old South Republicans have been making gains in an area that has traditionally been a bastion of Democratic strength in American politics. While Arkansas may appear to be following this trend, in reality GOP gains in the Natural State may be only superficial. Despite strong showings by Republican candidates for higher offices in Arkansas, a GOP contender has yet to win a statewide office past the Lieutenant Governor's race.

This research paper examines "ticket splitting" in Arkansas elections. Ticket splitting is the practice of voting for candidates of …

A Tale Of Two Governors: The 1996 Gubernatorial Succession Crisis, Melissa Miller

Honors Theses

The state of Arkansas is no stranger to succession crises. As early as the Reconstruction era, struggles for power emerged, and controversies surrounding the appropriate use of power among acting governors have kept the issue unsettled. One such instance, the Arkansas gubernatorial succession crisis of 1996 became yet another episode in this saga. While never fully examined, the succession crisis did influence modern politics in the state. There are two sides to every story: "Well, I wanted to let you know I've decided not to resign," Jim Guy Tucker said to Mike Huckabee only five minutes before the inauguration of …

An Assessment Of The 2000 Fourth Congressional District Race, Amber E. Wilson

Honors Theses

Prior to the November 7 election, incumbent Republican Jay Dickey aspired to maintain his eight-year hold on the fourth congressional district seat, while challenger, Mike Ross, a Democratic State Senator, had high hopes for a partisan restoration. In the end, Ross upset the incumbent carrying 51 percent of the 212,160 votes cast, a narrow 4, 126-vote margin. This paper assesses the strategic, tactical, and fiscal factors contributing to Ross's success in overriding incumbency advantages and reclaiming the seat for the Democrats. More specifically, it compares and contrasts candidate and noncandidate communications. Indeed, communication was the key component to these coordinated …

William Jennings Bryan: "Among Friends" In Arkansas, C. J. Hall

Honors Theses

Campaign style has changed dramatically since the turn of the century when William Jennings Bryan captured the political limelight. Bryan, a three time Democratic nominee for President, developed a new campaign tactic during the 1896 Presidential election; he continued to employ the new style for the remainder of his life. In 1896 Bryan's political organization could not compete with the well-financed Republican system, so the "Great Commoner" took his cause to the people. Presidential candidates were not supposed to actively campaign for the office, but Bryan broke the norm. After the 1896 election, Bryan continued to travel around the country …

A Political Survey Of Obu, John Dale Hodges

Honors Theses

The objective of this survey is to determine what effect young people, especially the new 18 to 20 year old voters will have on elections. The results of this survey are to show what type of voter the OBU student is, and what he thinks are the most important issues facing Arkansas and the nation. This survey also shows how some of the candidates are doing, and how popular they are in the eyes of' young voters.

A Study Of Little Rock School District 1966-1968 Elections And Their Effect On Public School Policy, Ray Earl Garner

OBU Graduate Theses

For many years, the school elections in Little Rock have followed a traditional pattern of meager voter turnout . School elections, prior to the 1967 election, were mentioned briefly in newspaper articles. The platforms were of the same general nature year after year. They included taxes, school expansion, better facilities, and higher teacher salaries. Candidates seldom, if ever, campaigned publicly and actively. Posters were usually placed throughout the city. A few days prior to the election, newspaper ads with the candidates' pictures would appear in the Arkansas Democrat and the Arkansas Gazette. The 1967 school election was significant, because that …

A Critical Analysis Of Selected Problems Of A Small All-Negro Town In The Arkansas Delta, Lacy Kirk Solomon

OBU Graduate Theses

This study gives critical analysis to a few selected problems of the town of Michellville, Arkansas. This small all-Negro town was incorporated in 1963, but does not give much evidence of development since that time. This critical analysis seeks to discover some reasons for this lack of development. This study will seek to objectively point out causes of certain problems, without giving undue attention to the motives of different personalities.

By recording the events and problems it is expected that they may be seen in a clearer perspective. As the events are recorded, an attempt will be made to see …