LITTLE ROCK — Secretary of State Mark Martin predicts 65 percent of the state’s 1.6 million registered voters will cast ballots in the general election, a spokesman for Martin said Monday as voters started casting their ballots on the first day of early voting.
At least 26,763 voters cast ballots on Monday and that exceeded the 26,260 who voted on the first day of early voting in 2008, said Martin spokesman Alex Reed.
Martin is projecting that voter turnout will be similar to 2008, the last presidential election year, when 64.52 percent of the state’s registered voters voted, said Reed.
Turnout was 62.62 percent of registered voters in 2004, 59.34 percent in 2000, 64.57 percent in 1996, 72.13 in 1992, 68.81 percent in 1988, 76.45 percent in 1984 and 77.92 percent in 1980, according to the secretary of state’s office.
“We are not a ‘targeted’ state presidentially, but we were not in 2008 either,” Reed explained when asked why Martin projects 65 percent of registered voters will turn out to vote in the general election.
“The intensity on the state legislative races is high on both sides, so we believe that may drive turnout as well,” he said.
Republicans are vying to strip control of the Arkansas House of Representatives and Senate from the Democrats for the first time in 138 years. The House is made up of 53 Democrats and 46 Republicans. A majority is 51. The Senate is composed of 20 Democrats and 15 Republicans. A majority is 18.
Four congressional seats and five ballot issues also are on the general election ballot, though votes won’t be counted for two of the ballot issues.
Republicans hold three of the state’s four seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, and departing Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Ross of Prescott holds the other, which Republicans are targeting as a pickup.
Issue 1 would increase the state’s sales tax by a half cent to 6.5 cents for 10 years to raise money for roads and highways.
Issue 2 would authorize local governments to create districts for development and redevelopment projects and to issue bonds payable from the sales taxes. It would also authorize local governments to levy a sales tax to retire unfunded liabilities of “closed local police and fire pension plans” with the approval of voters.
Issue 5 would legalize the medical use of marijuana.
Votes won’t be counted on either Issue 3 and Issue 4. Both would have allowed a private company to own and operate casinos in multiple counties in Arkansas. The state supreme court disqualified both ballot measures during the past month. The court said supporters of one of the proposals failed to meet a threshold for signatures when they first submitted their petition. The court said how the other proposal as described on the ballot is significantly changed from the way it was described to voters who signed the petitions to put it on the ballot.
Officials in Benton, Faulkner, Pulaski, Sebastian and Washington counties reported a generally steady turnout on the first day of early voting.
Melinda Allen, director of elections for the Pulaski County Election Commission, said there is a “good possibility” that the voter turnout in the county will exceed the turnout in 2008.
“We had people coming in three weeks before [now] who wanted to early vote,” she said.
Pernestine Johnson of Little Rock, who is disabled, said she voted Monday because she didn’t “want to stand in a long line like four years ago.”
In particular, she said she was drawn to the polls to vote for President Barack Obama, a Democrat, because Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, “doesn’t know what it is like to be a poor person.” She said she also wanted to vote for Issue 5 because she is tired of taking pain medication that is bad for her stomach.
Donna Davis of Sherwood, who washes dishes and prepares food for a restaurant, said she voted Monday because “I figure if you don’t vote you don’t have a right to complain.”
She said she voted against Issue 5, though she has mixed feelings about it, because she considers it “a backdoor approach to getting hold of weed.”
Davis said she voted for Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson, a former governor of New Mexico, because he supports the troops and gun laws.
But several other people, including William Dillard of Little Rock, chief executive officer of Dillard’s Inc., declined to say who they voted for president. Dillard said that’s “my business.”
Dillard said he voted Monday because it’s easier than waiting in line to vote on election day.
Early voting runs Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-6 p.m. and on Saturday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and closes at 5 p.m. on the Monday before Nov. 6, according to Reed.
Jennifer Price, election coordinator for the Washington County Election Commission, said about 1,500 voters cast ballots on Monday in Washington County.
“We had anticipated a lot more voters,” she said. “We were a little surprised we were not as busy.”
Officials in the Sebastian County clerk’s office reported more than 1,100 voters cast ballots Monday in Sebastian County.
“The lines have been steady ever since [7:45 a.m.],” said Sebastian County Clerk Sharon Brooks.
Faulkner County Clerk Melinda Reynolds said more than 1,800 voters cast ballots on Monday in Faulkner County and that’s “starting out heavier” than in 2008. She said she expects more voters to cast ballots in Faulkner County this year than in 2008.
“It’s just the presidential election,” she said.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 10/23/2012