Between The Lines: Few Will Make Runoff Decision For All

Sunday, June 8, 2014

The primary elections are not over, although most Arkansas voters probably won't show for next week's runoff.

That is a pitiful fact of political life.

Runoffs notoriously attract fewer voters than the preferential primaries that narrow a multiple-candidate field to two. And the turnout for the preferential primary elections wasn't all that great to begin with.

Just 21.3 percent of the more than 1.6 million registered voters turned out for the May vote in Arkansas.

Even in higher-profile races, turnout for a runoff can be ridiculously low.

Take the 2010 runoff between Blanche Lincoln and Bill Halter for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat Lincoln then held. Almost 30 percent of the state's registered voters turned out for the first vote. The runoff between them drew just a 16 percent turnout, despite the significance of the race.

That was a hotly contested U.S. Senate race of interest not only within Arkansas but also nationwide. Lincoln eventually lost to Republican John Boozman.

By comparison, in 2012, when there were no statewide runoffs, voter turnout for the runoffs was just 3.5 percent as voters in different pockets of the state picked candidates for a variety of lower-level offices.

This year, few candidates are involved in runoffs, but there is a statewide runoff election to decide the Republican nomination for attorney general.

Obviously, unless something remarkable happens, a comparative handful of voters will choose between the Republican hopefuls, Leslie Rutledge and David Sterling. One of the two Little Rock lawyers will square off against candidates from the Democratic and Libertarian parties in the November general election.

The Democratic nominee is Nate Steel, a Nashville lawyer and state representative. The Libertarian candidate is Aaron Cash of Springdale. Neither had primary opposition.

The sitting attorney general, Dustin McDaniel, a Democrat, is term-limited and could not seek re-election.

Here's a cautionary note for those thinking about voting in the runoff between Rutledge and Sterling: Voters who voted in the Democratic primary on May 20 are ineligible to vote in the Republican runoff.

If you are eligible to vote, remember to take voter ID with you to the polls on Tuesday. Or your vote might not count.

A number of those who showed up without proper ID for the May 20 election lost their votes.

They could cast provisional ballots and did, but they had to follow up to present their IDs to authorities within a set time frame. Most did not follow up, so their votes did not count.

A small number of voters were reportedly affected statewide, only 25 in Pulaski County, the state's largest county. But only one of the 25 who didn't show ID at the polls there had returned by the deadline, so 24 lost their votes.

Neither the secretary of state's office nor the state Board of Election Commissioners officially tracked the number of ballots not counted because of the law.

But the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas is collecting that information, which will doubtlessly make its way into court arguments over voter ID.

Actually, next week's runoff election could be the last for Arkansas' voter ID law.

You'll remember that the Republican-led Arkansas Legislature passed the law last year, presumably to block people who shouldn't be voting from getting a ballot. Gov. Mike Beebe vetoed the bill, asserting that there was no demonstrated voter fraud to require it. But lawmakers overrode the governor's veto.

The law was declared unconstitutional in two separate lawsuits last month, but the rulings were stayed pending the primary elections.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox found the law unconstitutional in both cases, one of which was brought by the ACLU. The other case was filed by the Pulaski County Election Commission but addressed the issue more narrowly.

Each case is being appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court, which will surely decide the matter before the general election.

BRENDA BLAGG IS A FREELANCE COLUMNIST AND LONGTIME NORTHWEST ARKANSAS JOURNALIST.

Commentary on 06/08/2014