Arkansas Republicans claimed majority control of the House on Thursday for the first time since Reconstruction after winning District 95 in Northwest Arkansas, the last race to be tallied.
But Democrats on Thursday sought a recount in a northeast Arkansas district where the Republican candidate won by 44 votes.
House members are scheduled to meet at the Capitol today beginning at 8:30 a.m. todetermine seniority, choose seats in the chamber and select what committees they want to serve on.
Republicans have said they plan to replace Democrat Darrin Williams of Little Rock, who was selected as speaker-designee last spring. Rep. Terry Rice, R-Waldron, would be the likely Republican speaker, but when that switch will occur is not clear.
House rules require the legislature to officially elect the speaker on the first dayof the session. House Republican Leader Bruce Westerman of Hot Springs has said he wants the leadership issue decided today.
According to unofficial results, Republicans will hold 51 seats in the 2013 session, Democrats 48 and one to be held by Green Party representative Fred Smith of Crawfordsville.
Democratic candidate L.J. Bryant of Grubbs requested a recount in District 52 after losing by 44 votes Tuesday to Republican John Hutchisonof Harrisburg.
“This razor-thin election has caused many to want me to request a recount,” Bryant said. “We may get more votes and win or less votes in said recount. No one distrusts the process; however, when it is this close we wanted to ensure the folks of District 52 and Arkansas that there were no doubts about the outcome.”
If the recount shows the Republican did not win that race, no party would hold a majority of seats in the Houseof Representatives, denying GOP control.
Hutchison did not return phone calls Thursday. The Republican Party released a statement that its Chairman Doyle Webb has “mobilized a legal team to monitor the recount and protect the vote of Arkansans in District 52 who chose a Republican to represent their common sense conservative values.”
Democratic Party spokesman Candace Martin said attorneys and representatives from its party also will bepresent.
“Obviously our first priority in this is to make sure every vote is counted and counted fairly,” Martin said. “We need to make sure that everybody had the opportunity to vote.”
She said the party is waiting to hear the recount results before saying Republicans hold the House.
The district covers portions of Craighead, Independence, Jackson and Poinsett counties. It winds west fromMarked Tree to include Harrisburg, Amagon, Tuckerman and Charlotte. It excludes Newport.
Secretary of state spokesman Alex Reed said most of the recounts will take place Tuesday and should be completed within the day.
Poinsett County Clerk Fonda Condra said Bryant requested that the recount be done by hand. She said it is possible for workers to complete the count in one long day, but she said thecounty’s Board of Election Commissioners has not set a time for it.
“We’ve never had to do it like this. There’s time involved, but it can be done and we’ll do it gladly,” Condra said. “I feel secure in our vote.”
Bryant will be billed the lesser of either 25 cents for each of the 10,052 ballots cast in his race or $10,000, Reed said. That fee will be returned if the result of the election changes based upon the recount, according to Arkansas Code Annotated 7-5-319.
Democrats have controlled the state House since the period after the Civil War.
The result of the District 95 race between Republican Sue Scott of Rogers and Independent Mark Moore of Pea Ridge wasn’t clear until Thursday evening because of voting-machine problems.
According to the secretary of state’s office, as of 6 p.m. Thursday, Scott’s 6,715 votes led Moore’s total of 4,222.
Reed said the county has 2,500 ballots that must be counted by hand.
Moore conceded the raceThursday afternoon.
He said he decided to concede because of news reports that the Republican majority hinged on his race, and everybody was “on pins and needles.”
Moore said he knew the paper ballots weren’t going to make enough difference in the race and decided to end the suspense.
Moore questioned the use of voting machines, and said there weren’t enough machines available to serve the county’s voters.
Information for this article was contributed by Doug Thompson of NWA Media.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 11/09/2012