Democrat left off ballot in 1 Arkansas county as early voting begins

Don Newton of North Little Rock casts his ballot Monday at the Main Branch of the William F. Laman Public Library.
Don Newton of North Little Rock casts his ballot Monday at the Main Branch of the William F. Laman Public Library.

In some of Arkansas' counties, more people cast ballots on the first day of early voting Monday than in other recent midterm elections.

Statewide figures won't be available through Republican Secretary of State Mark Martin's office until this morning, said Martin spokesman Chris Powell.

Also on the first day of early voting, polling sites in Garland County shut down for 30 minutes to an hour after voters realized that Democratic secretary of state candidate Susan Inman of Little Rock had been left off the ballot.

Under state law, the hours for early voting are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays-Fridays and from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays, although individual sites may be open fewer hours. Early voting ends by 5 p.m. on the final day, Nov. 5.

Arkansans will be electing four congressional representatives, seven state constitutional officers, a state Supreme Court justice, state lawmakers and local officials. They'll also decide the fate of a proposed initiated act that would raise the state's minimum wage by $2.50 an hour to $11 an hour by 2021, and proposed constitutional amendments to allow the state to issue licenses for four full-fledged casinos and to require photo ID for voters to cast ballots. A 2017 state law already requires voters to present a photo ID to cast ballots.

The state's number of registered voters has increased slightly from 1.759 million in the 2016 general election to 1.782 million for this year's general election, Powell said.

"As far as turnout, no big prediction really," Powell wrote in an email to this newspaper.

"While primary turnout tends to vary, general election turnout has been pretty consistent in recent cycles. Going back to least 2004, general election turnout has been around 65% in presidential years and around 50% in midterms," Powell said.

People wait in line Monday during early voting at the Main Branch of the William F. Laman Public Library in North Little Rock.
People wait in line Monday during early voting at the Main Branch of the William F. Laman Public Library in North Little Rock.

In Benton County, there was an 81 percent increase in first-day voters compared with four years ago, said Benton County Elections Administrator Dana Caler. About 3:50 p.m. Monday, she said that 3,560 people had voted, compared with 1,970 in 2014 and 1,144 in 2010.

"We're way past those midterm elections," she said. While the county normally averages a turnout of around 45 percent of voters in midterm elections, Caler said that rising numbers in more recent elections and an abundance of competitive mayoral and statehouse races this year could cause turnout to climb even higher.

"We could be looking at about 60 percent turnout hopefully," she said.

In Washington County, election officials were reporting a similar spike in turnout.

About two hours before the close of polls on Monday, 2,361 people had voted early in Washington County, compared with 1,087 on the first day of the 2014 midterms, according to the election coordinator's office.

Washington County Clerk Becky Lewallen said Monday set a record for first-day early voting totals in a midterm election.

Bryan Poe, elections director for the Pulaski County Election Commission, said 5,991 people voted early in Pulaski County on Monday, compared with 4,675 on the first day of early voting in the 2014 midterm election. Figures for the first day of early voting in the 2010 midterm were not immediately available, he said.

Poe said he is expecting about 55 percent to 60 percent of the county's 247,512 registered voters to turn out for this year's general election, up from the turnout in the last midterm election in 2014 because there are more contested races for local offices.

Poe said he expects the five-candidate race for Little Rock mayor to help fuel voter turnout.

Doug Curtis, Saline County clerk, said the number of voters passed the 2,000 mark about 3:15 p.m. He said the final numbers for the first day would not be available until later in the evening.

Curtis said he expects probably 65 percent or so of Saline County's 74,221 registered voters to cast ballots in the general election with some hotly contested races, including a three-candidate race for mayor of Benton, helping increase voter turnout.

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"I would love to have more than that," he said.

In Craighead County, 1,091 people had voted by 5 p.m. Monday.

While the county's elections coordinator, Jennifer Clack, said she didn't have statistics for the first day of early voting in 2014, she said the present numbers show the county is on pace to turn out about 44 percent of its 59,439 registered voters.

"We'd love that," Clack said. "That would be amazing."

In Cabot, a slow-but-steady stream of voters flowed through the Cabot Public Library to be among the first to cast their ballots in Lonoke County early Monday.

Ken Kincade, one of the three candidates running for mayor of Cabot, set up a tent outside the library as the polls opened at 7:30 a.m.

Kincade plans to vote later this week, but he and his dad waved at voters as they arrived Monday.

"It's been a little slow; people aren't trampling in," he said.

"I think we'll see a rush at lunch. Right now, I think the cold has people staying in bed."

GARLAND COUNTY ISSUES

Garland County Election Commission Chairman Gene Haley attributed the "inadvertent" omission to a transcription error, and he said that 222 ballots were cast before the problem was discovered. Those votes can't be changed, "except for maybe a court order," Haley said.

"Once it's in the scanner it can't be changed," Haley said. "Now, my hope is this race isn't decided by less than 222 votes."

Haley said that election officials discovered an issue when they were programming election equipment last week preventing the names of candidates who had primary opponents from being printed out on the ballot cards. To fix it, Haley said, officials re-did the program, entering each candidate's name manually. Inman's name was left off by mistake during that process, he said.

Haley also said that the name of Inman's Republican opponent, current state Land Commissioner John Thurston of East End, was misspelled. Election officials, Haley said, began rectifying both issues immediately after they were found.

Inman was frustrated by the snafu on Monday, noting that she lost out on votes.

"This should not happen," Inman said. "There are numerous checks in place to ensure it doesn't."

She found out about her name being omitted after a friend from Garland County texted her after voting. She encouraged voters to check their ballots, and if they discover an issue like a missing candidate, don't submit the ballot.

"Today's monumental mistake, which left my name off of Garland County's early voting ballot, underscores the need for Arkansas to do its voting by mail," Inman said later in a written statement.

"There are constant problems with these election machines and today's error is just another in a long line of examples that prove it's time for Arkansas to adopt a vote by mail system."

Thurston noted that he encountered a similar issue in the May primary when ballots in Pulaski County cut his name short.

He said Inman being left off the Garland County ballots was "obviously unacceptable," but he was glad it was caught in a timely manner.

"It was fixed," Thurston said. "Those are things we'll always have to deal with. We'll have to continue to make sure everyone is trained adequately on the election equipment. The clerks work hard, and they do a good job. There's no need to point fingers."

EARLY VOTING

In Little Rock, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jared Henderson of Little Rock cast his ballot on Monday, shortly after the early voting site on Markham Street in downtown Little Rock opened Monday morning.

Henderson was accompanied by his parents, Dennis and Becky Henderson, his wife Melanie Prince and the couple's son Duke.

"Honestly I am excited," he said. "We were able to get my whole family together and we wanted to be able to do it together and it's just incredible. We want to spend the rest of the next 16 days meeting as many people as we can. We are about to hit the road.

"I am really proud of the race we have run. We are just going to have to see. This is the most unpredictable election of our lives. We don't know who is going to turn out and who is going to stay home," Henderson said.

Meanwhile, Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Rogers "is basically doing his day job today," Hutchinson campaign spokesman Jamie Barker said Monday. The governor campaigned in Northwest Arkansas on Saturday and Sunday, Barker noted.

It hasn't been determined when Hutchinson will cast his ballot, Barker said.

Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Mark West of Batesville said Monday that he's "working all day today" and "doing a Facebook Townhall tonight at 7:30 p.m.

"We are going to early vote. We just haven't decided when as of yet. Waiting on my son's band schedule for Saturday because we are looking at going then," West wrote in an email.

A Section on 10/23/2018

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