It appears that voters in Madison and Sharp counties opted for alcohol sales Tuesday. In Benton County, votes were still being counted Wednesday morning, but the sale of liquor was in the lead.
If all three counties approve package store sales, it will be historic, said Michael Langley, director of the Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control Division.
“For the first time since the 1940s, Arkansas has a majority of wet counties,” said Langley. “This continues the pro-liquor trend that has been stead since 2006. Every pro-liquor issue on a ballot including wet/dry and off-premise Sunday sales has passed. The vote differential also appears to be growing each year. It is a strong cultural shift.”
Previously, 35 of Arkansas’ 75 counties were wet.
As of noon Wednesday:
With 18 of 20 precincts in Madison County reporting, the unofficial results were:
For 3,793
Against 2,828
With 26 of 26 precincts reporting in Sharp County, the unofficial results were:
For 3,886
Against 3,456
With only preliminary votes counted, the unofficial results in Benton County were:
For 47,712
Against 24,946
Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.