1-candidate election nets 110 ballots

Taxpayers spent more than $130 per vote in a special election this week in which only one candidate was on the ballot; lawmakers hope a proposed constitutional amendment will allow Arkansas to avert similar uncontested elections in future years.

The winner -- the only person who could win the legislative race under Arkansas election law -- was Russellville Republican Greg Standridge.

And he only needed to get a single vote to finish in first place.

Standridge collected 110 votes in Tuesday's special state Senate election based on unofficial election results, according to the secretary of state's website. Standridge takes the seat vacated Nov. 10 by Michael Lamoureux, who resigned to become Gov. Asa Hutchinson's transition director and then chief of staff.

Senate District 16 has nearly 46,000 registered voters.

Five counties in the district spent at least $15,000 to hold Tuesday's special election, officials in the counties said Wednesday.

Voter turnout was less than three-tenths of 1 percent.

In one county, voter turnout was as low as it can get -- zero percent.

With the outcome never in doubt, Standridge didn't need to campaign much after he won the Republican Party's Feb. 10 primary runoff. Instead he headed to the state Capitol, where he has spent much of the past two months with his soon-to-be senatorial colleagues.

Lawmakers even allowed Standridge to get his share of the General Improvement Fund so that he can help oversee its distribution to Arkansas Tech University and the counties in his Senate district.

Standridge, the 47-year-old co-owner of CSI Insurance in Russellville, won 68 votes in Pope County, 15 votes in both Newton and Van Buren counties, 12 votes in Carroll County and no votes in Boone County, the secretary of state's office reported.

"I said if I got 100 votes, that would be a lot," Standridge said Wednesday.

"It is a shame the counties had to spend the money on the election to begin with," he added.

Senate District 16 includes 32,706 registered voters in Pope County, 6,004 in Newton County, 2,885 in Van Buren County, 2,359 in Boone County and 1,906 in Carroll County, said Laura Labay, a spokesman for Secretary of State Mark Martin.

Standridge was unopposed in Tuesday's special election. He defeated former state Rep. Stan Berry, R-Dover, in the GOP runoff Feb. 10 that attracted 4,988 voters. No Democrats filed to run for the seat. The special runoff cost the district's five counties $50,497 based on its reimbursement requests to the state Board of Election Commissioners, according to board records.

Berry and Standridge qualified for the runoff in the Jan. 13 special primary election by collecting more votes than Russellville Republican Thomas Akin, who previously ran as a Democrat for a House seat. That special primary election drew 4,440 voters. The special primary election cost the counties $53,665 based on reimbursement requests to the Board of Election Commissioners, according to board records.

Tuesday's special Senate election will cost Pope County about $10,000 for expenses such as computer coding for electronic voting machines, ballots, poll workers, and newspaper advertisements, said Portia Short, the county Election Commission's chairman.

"It was very expensive for the number of voters we had," Short said. "It is not anyone's fault."

Short, a Republican who assumed the post earlier this year, had no complaints.

"I'm not going to say it was frustrating. I thought everything went well," she said.

Tuesday's special Senate election will cost Carroll County nearly $5,000 for expenses ranging from computer coding to poll workers to paper ballots, said Joanna Schuster, election coordinator for Carroll County.

The special Senate election will cost Newton County less than $1,000, a Newton County clerk's office employee estimated.

The election coordinators in Boone and Van Buren counties said they haven't yet added up the cost of holding Tuesday's special election.

"Nobody came in and voted on Election Day," said Vicki Jones, election coordinator in Van Buren County.

The 15 votes cast in Tuesday's election included 11 absentee ballots and four ballots cast in early voting, she said.

"It was a lot of money to be spent and a lot of people called it stupid to have an election with one person on the ballot," Jones said.

Beckie Benton, election coordinator in Boone County, said she wasn't surprised that no one voted there.

"It was an unopposed candidate who didn't live in Boone County," she said.

Benton said "he's already won and all it takes is for him to vote for himself, but we still have to hold an election."

The Arkansas Legislature this year has referred to voters in the 2016 general election a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow lawmakers to pass legislation eliminating the need for a formal election if this scenario arises again.

Under House Joint Resolution 1027, lawmakers can pass a law declaring an unopposed candidate the winner after all filing deadlines have passed, including the deadline to file as a write-in candidate.

"It is just a matter of saving money and time," the proposal's sponsor, Rep. Jack Ladyman, R-Jonesboro, said Wednesday.

Two other parts of HJR1027 would extend the two-year terms for county elected officials -- except for justices of the peace -- to four years and more clearly spell out what is an "infamous crime" for purposes of establishing the eligibility of someone to hold office.

After winning the Feb. 10 Republican runoff, Standridge said he attended each day of the legislative session except for one.

"I learned and observed the process. That was invaluable, The pressure wasn't on to vote," he said.

Standridge said he was treated well by both senators and representatives. He said he had other lawmakers sponsor a few bills to clean up "fairly simple stuff" for his constituents.

Sen. Larry Teague, D-Nashville, said he sponsored what became Act 1234 at Standridge's request. The law allows for the reassessment of "maximum assessed benefits" in fire protection districts under certain circumstances.

In addition, Teague acknowledged that Standridge received a share of the $10 million allocated to the Senate from the General Improvement Fund for various projects.

"It's in my name," Teague said. "There was general agreement he should get that."

Standridge said he's dividing his slice of the General Improvement Fund between Arkansas Tech University in Russellville and the five counties in his Senate district through two regional economic development districts.

A Bureau of Legislative Research summary of the distribution of the fund includes $142,500 to Arkansas Tech for construction, renovation, maintenance, critical maintenance, equipment security enhancements, technology upgrades and equipment and library resources under Teague's name.

It also includes $95,000 to the West Central Arkansas Economic Development District Inc. and $47,500 to the Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District under Teague's name. Standridge said the money to the two districts would be distributed to the five counties in his district based on population for various projects such as senior citizen centers.

Standridge's "district deserved as much representation as the other 34 and he'll be a member of the 90th General Assembly on April 22," said Senate President Pro Tempore Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, in explaining why Standridge received a share of the General Improvement Fund.

Dismang said Standridge will be sworn into office April 22, shortly before the Legislature formally adjourns this year's regular session. Standridge will become the 24th Republican in the 35-member Senate.

Standridge's participation in the session "went well with the exception that he wasn't able to vote," Dismang said.

Metro on 04/16/2015

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