The official duties of Arkansas' lieutenant governor as described by the Arkansas Constitution are to preside over the Senate with a tie-breaking vote, to serve as governor when the governor is out of state, and to serve as governor if the governor is impeached, removed from office, dies or is otherwise unable to discharge the office's duties.
The position of Lieutenant Governor was created in 1914, but Arkansas did not have anyone serving as Lieutenant Governor until 1926.
Amendment 6 to the Arkansas Constitution was voted on by the general electorate in 1914, with returns showing 45,567 in favor of the amendment and 45,206 opposed. The Speaker of the House declared the measure lost because it did not receive a majority of the highest total vote, which was 135,517. In 1925, it was discovered that the Initiative and Referendum of 1910 amended this majority requirement so that only a majority of those voting on a specific question was required. So, in 1926, the 1914 initiative was declared to be valid and Harvey Parnell was elected Arkansas' first lieutenant governor.
Currently Democrat Bill Halter & Republican Jim Holt, Jr. are vying for the succession to the office. The office itself is vacant due to the death of the incumbent, Win Paul Rockefeller.
Mike Huckabee, who had been elected lieutenantgovernor in a 1993 special election, ascended to the governor's office in 1996 when Governor Jim Guy Tucker, a Democrat, was convicted as part of the Whitewater Scandal.
Arkansas is a beautiful land of mountains and valleys, thick forests and fertile plains.
Northwest Arkansas is part of the Ozark Plateau including the Boston Mountains, to the south are the Ouachita Mountains and these regions are divided by the Arkansas River; the southern and eastern parts of Arkansas are called the Lowlands.
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