Races Begin With Ballot Draw

By Tom Sissom

Posted: August 26, 2010 at 5:26 a.m.

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BENTONVILLE — Through no fault of their own, some candidates for municipal offices in Benton County already may be facing an early obstacle to electoral success.

The Benton County Election Commission set ballot positions for the county’s municipal races at a special commission meeting Tuesday night. Ballot positions were chosen by random lot.

According to Janine Parry, associate professor of political science at the University of Arkansas, being listed first on the ballot could be worth from 3 to 5 percentage points of the eventual vote for the lucky candidate who lands that spot.

Parry said research indicates ballot position has a stronger influence in what are called “low information” contests. Those would be contests where no one has the advantage of incumbency or high name recognition, she said.

Parry cited judicial contests in Arkansas as one common example of “low information” contests. Candidates for judicial office are generally prohibited from discussing issues that could come before them in court. Consequently, Parry said “you get lots of information about their families and their friends” but little on which to base an informed opinion.

E.J. Miller, commission chairman, said he wasn’t familiar with the research, but his experience as a precinct sheriff supported Parry’s explanation of the data.

“In the areas where I was precinct sheriff, the tendency was that people marked the first spot on the ballot when they didn’t know any of the names,” Miller said.

But candidates whose names aren’t at the top of the ballot weren’t conceding anything. In a four-man race for Pea Ridge mayor, challengers took the top two spots. F. Joe Hart drew the top spot on the ballot followed by Boyd McNiel. Incumbent Mayor Jackie Crabtree drew the third spot and former city councilman and school board president Rick Webb placed fourth on the ballot.

Hart said he doesn’t expect to be elected, top spot on the ballot notwithstanding. He said he’s running “to give the people something to think about” — like the salaries of city officials — and said he would volunteer to take a pay cut if chosen to serve as mayor.

Crabtree and Webb both downplayed the result of the ballot draw. McNiel did not return phone calls Wednesday.

Crabtree said he’s run for office before and has been first on the ballot in one election and lower in the order in others.

“It’s just the luck of the draw,” Crabtree said. “You have to work with what you’re dealt.”

Webb, a Pea Ridge native, said he thinks his work in the community will draw voters to his name, regardless of where it is on the ballot.

“I don’t see that as having any effect,” he said. “I hope I’m pretty well known here.”

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