Arkansas voters approve half-cent sales tax increase for $1.8 billion highway improvement plan. The statewide sales tax would increase from 6 percent to 6.5 percent over the next 10 years to raise as much as $1 billion for roads and bridges.
However, a provision that would have made Arkansas the first southern state to allow the dispensing of medical marijuana was narrowly defeated. Meanwhile, in the West, Colorado voters approved their own amendment that would make it legal for individuals to possess and for businesses to sell marijuana for recreational use.
In the race to determine who would represent south Arkansas in the U.S. House of Representatives, Republican Tom Cotton was winning handily in a four-person field with a margin approaching 60 percent of the vote.