As fears of covid-19 escalate, the state Board of Election Commissioners will give guidance to counties that have runoff elections March 31.
Commissioners will meet at 9:30 a.m. Monday to discuss recommendations and to issue a letter of guidance to send to those counties, said Chris Madison, staff attorney for the commission.
"We've been having meetings discussing this and we plan on having guidance come out the first of next week," Madison said.
Election officials in Pulaski and Jefferson counties, two where the covid-19 patients have shown up, are particularly concerned about how to keep poll workers and voters safe, particularly in light of recommendations from public health officials that large public gatherings be discouraged.
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Evelyn Gomez, chairwoman of the Pulaski County Election Commission, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Friday afternoon that the issue has been discussed at length and election officials there are closely monitoring developments.
"There are issues with voting in general when you have that person-to-person contact when you come in to vote," Gomez said. "We're monitoring the situation. We're watching the spread very carefully, just like everyone else."
Gomez said the commission's primary concern is the safety of poll workers, many of whom are in the high risk category because of age.
"Their health and safety is absolutely paramount for us," she said.
Gomez said that at this point, the commission has not considered alternatives, such as limiting polling sites or encouraging people to vote absentee by mail. The latter would allow voters to skip going to the polls.
"That's not a bridge we've crossed at the moment," she said. "But that's not to say that any of those options may not be something we may pursue in the future."
Pulaski County Election Commissioner Joshua Price said after a commission meeting Friday night that the commission will follow the recommendations issued Monday.
Price, who attended Friday's meeting via teleconference, said he has self-quarantined for 10 days following a trip to New York City. He said he may have been exposed to the virus that causes covid-19.
"I was at a meeting where I was face to face with someone who was exposed to someone who was exposed to someone, like three degrees of separation," Price said. "But, out of an abundance of caution, I think it's better that I self-quarantine for these 10 days rather than take the chance of spreading the virus."
Price, 40, said he is not exhibiting symptoms and thinks it is unlikely that he has contracted the virus.
"I'm young, I have a strong immune system, so even if I do come down with it, I'll likely be fine," he said. "But on the off chance I have been exposed, I don't want to risk passing it on to anyone else, so sure, I'm a little stir crazy, but I'll use the time to get some laundry done and catch up on my reading."
In neighboring Jefferson County, election commissioners there have discussed numerous options, including taking steps to postpone the runoff election.
At a meeting early Friday afternoon, commissioners unanimously adopted a position to favor delaying the election by 60 days and to have the election conducted entirely through absentee balloting, a position supported by the Jefferson County clerk's office.
"Anything that will make the process safer for the voters, we will support," said County Clerk Shawndra Taggart, when contacted by phone Friday night.
The position is non-binding, but foreshadows a likely commission vote early next week to direct the prosecuting attorney, Kyle Hunter, who represents the Jefferson County Election Commission, to ask a circuit judge to delay the election.
"We've adopted the position until we have an indication of what the State Board is going to recommend on Monday," said Michael Adam, Jefferson County Election Commission chairman, following a Friday afternoon meeting of the Jefferson County commissioners. "My information is that they are going to recommend limiting polling sites and encouraging voters to vote absentee, but they aren't going to consider postponing the election, so we'll probably be going to court."
His fellow commissioners, Stuart "Stu" Soffer and Theodis "Ted" Davis, reiterated the commission's belief that the election should be delayed to give the county clerk's office and voters adequate time to make the necessary adjustments and to ensure plenty of time to get ballots mailed back for counting.
"For us not to do something in this situation is us not assuming our responsibility to the voters," Davis said. "We need to express our concern and if going to court is the appropriate thing to do, then I think we should do that."
Hunter, in a phone interview Friday night, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that because there is no mechanism in place in state law providing for postponement of elections, the matter would have to go before a judge, something for which he said no precedent exists.
"What I would have to do first is determine if there is even a legal basis to attempt it," Hunter said. "So I don't know what that would look like at this point, I'd first have to determine if it is legally feasible, if there's some reason by which a court could do that, but that's uncharted waters at this point."
If a petition is filed, Hunter said, and it is determined that the court does indeed have jurisdiction in the matter, then the court would be obliged to rule on the issue.
"They've got to determine whether they are going to grant it or deny it, once it's on their plate," he said. "At this point we don't even know exactly what we would ask for, much less speculate what a court would do if that was presented to them."
Whether a delay is requested or not, much less granted, Hunter said that in the current situation, absentee voting would be the most certain way of limiting contact between voters and election officials.
"Even if it goes on as normal, people have that option," he said.
In an emailed statement Friday, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said that at the state level, there will be no consideration of delaying elections.
"There are no plans to [postpone] any elections," Hutchinson said. "The runoff elections and the special elections should proceed under Department of Health and [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidance on how to best staff polling locations."
State Desk on 03/14/2020