FAYETTEVILLE -- A dispute over voting rights has broken out while the Washington County Republican Party rushes to replace its county judge nominee on the November ballot.
Rep. Micah Neal, R-Springdale, is the GOP nominee for county judge. Neal will drop out, citing family and business reasons, he announced June 30. Soon thereafter, he added he was also moving from the county. This puts the county party under a deadline to hold a county convention and name a new candidate by Aug. 8. If they don't, Democrat Mark Kinion will face no GOP or independent opposition on the Nov. 8 ballot.
A convention would consist of a quorum of the 280 or so members of the Washington County Republican Committee. About 90 members on the rolls were sent letters saying they did not meet minimum qualifications for active membership and the voting privileges that go with it, county chairman Lance Johnson of Springdale confirmed Sunday. The letters were dated July 5.
The county committee leadership sent the letters to ensure the convention and all other committee business is done in compliance with party rules, Johnson said. "The rules say that if you miss three meetings, you are not an active member," Johnson said, referring to regular monthly meetings. These meetings take place on the third Tuesday of each month. That requirement was adopted earlier this year throughout the state by the Republican Party of Arkansas.
The rules allow an exception. An active member can send in a proxy if unable to physically attend and retain active membership. Many members who sent in proxies in meetings earlier this year, however, had already lapsed into inactive status, according to Johnson. Those are the members who were sent a letter, he said. You have to be an active member to send a proxy, he said.
"The rules are arcane, and I'm just a home builder who didn't know what that word meant six months ago," Johnson said.
Jim Reavis of Fayetteville, a former party chairman for the county, said Sunday at least four people so far who received letters are people who should be members in good standing. He and his supporters obtained the proxies and submitted them earlier this year, he said in an interview. He also kept records of who allowed him and his supporters to submit proxies on their behalf, he said. He is certain those four so far met the meeting requirement before sending proxies, he said.
"This reminds me of Chicago-style politics, not something we see in the South," Reavis said. He is consulting with an attorney to discuss options, he said.
Any member getting a letter can restore his active status by attending a regularly scheduled meeting under the bylaws, Reavis said. The convention to replace the county judge nominee must take place before the next regularly scheduled meeting, which is set for Aug. 16.
A party nominee for county judge selected by a partial committee would be handicapped going into the election, Reavis said. "I won't work against him, but I won't work for him," Reavis said. "I can truly see the Democrats making an issue of all of this."
All of this is taking place in a very constrained period of time in which many county officials will be out of state later this month at the Republican national convention in Cincinnati, Reavis said.
"It seems suspicious," said Tyler Clark, chairman of the Washington County Democratic Party. "Neal made his announcement two weeks ago, and they decide to send out letters like these now? It looks like the leadership is trying to pick the candidate. That's not surprising, though, since we know there's been a struggle going on between the leadership and more moderate members." The Democrats plan to challenge the Republican selection, whatever the circumstances, because they do not believe Neal's reason for dropping out gives the GOP the option of replacing him under state law, he said.
NW News on 07/11/2016