Voter Registration Name Change in Arkansas

A voter registration name change in Arkansas is free and usually takes about five minutes. You will likely need to submit an updated paper registration form through the official Arkansas voter registration page.

Update your registration after your Arkansas driver's license shows your new name, since most registration forms ask for your current license number and the name on it.

Under the National Voter Registration Act ("motor voter"), updating your license at the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (DFA), Office of Driver Services usually offers to update your voter registration at the same time. Say yes and you may not need a separate step at all.

One warning: don't assume it worked. Confirmation can lag by weeks, and a mismatch between your ID and the poll book is exactly the kind of surprise you don't want on election day. Verify on the official Arkansas page a couple of weeks after your DMV visit.

Arkansas does not offer online voter registration updates. To report a name change, complete the name-change portion of the voter registration application and submit it to your county clerk. The state's pages give no separate cutoff for a name change, so send it well before an election. New registrations are due 30 days before an election, and a move to a new county has its own cutoff of 4 days before an election. Source: Arkansas Secretary of State: voter registration information and Arkansas Secretary of State: voter registration FAQs. Update well ahead of any upcoming election so your registration reflects your new name at the polls.

If an election is close and you've missed the update window, call your county election office. In many places you can still vote under your former name with your current registration, and some states offer same-day corrections. The rules vary, so ask before you skip voting.

• Your Arkansas driver's license or state ID (ideally already showing your new name)
• Your current residential address
• The last four digits of your Social Security number (some forms)

There is no fee to update voter registration in any state. This step is also a good prompt to update your name with your county property records and jury-duty notices, which pull from the same rolls.