Arkansas

Articles about voting issues in Arkansas.

Secretary of State defends his vote map plan | Coshocton Tribune

May 082012

Secretary of State Mark Martin said Monday that he isn’t responsible for legislative district maps that lowered the percentage of voting-age blacks in an eastern Arkansas Senate district, accusing the Democratic-led redistricting panel of not listening to him throughout the process. As early voting opened Monday for Arkansas’ May 22 primary, a three-judge panel began hearing testimony on a state senator’s claim that the Arkansas Board of Apportionment improperly reduced the percentage of black voters in his district from 55 percent to slightly less than 53 percent.  Read More »

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Arkansas No Responses » Topics: Mark Martin, redistricting

Court: Voters can cast ballots in public | Arkansas News

Oct 012011

Poll workers cannot force voters to cast ballots in private if they choose to vote in the open, the state Supreme Court ruled today. The high court affirmed a Pulaski County Circuit Court ruling that barred election officials from directing voters to tables set up outside voting booths but that said state law does not require poll workers to force anyone to mark ballots within the confines of a booth.

Today’s decision came in an appeal of a lawsuit brought against the Pulaski County Election Commission by Keith Hamaker in July 2010. Hamaker said he witnessed voters seated at a table at a polling place in Little Rock when he went to vote in the 2008 general election. Hamaker’s lawsuit contended the practice he termed “community table voting” violated the public trust. He asked the circuit court to bar the election commission from allowing open voting. Read More »

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Arkansas Comments Off Topics: public voting, secret ballot

East Arkansas holds special election for House seat | NewsTimes

Jul 122011

Voters head to the polls in east Arkansas in a special election for a House seat vacated by a former Harlem Globetrotter.

Voters were expected to cast their ballots Tuesday to choose a new representative in state House district 54 to replace former Rep. Fred Smith. The Democratic lawmaker resigned from his Crittenden County seat in January after he was convicted of felony theft. Read More »

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Arkansas Comments Off Topics: Crittenden County, Hudson Hallum, John Geelan, voter fraud

State to send monitors to observe East Arkansas election | Arkansas News

Jul 082011

State monitors will observe a special election for a vacant East Arkansas House seat that has drawn complaints of voter fraud.

The state Board of Election Commissioners voted today to send monitors to Crittenden County for the special election on Tuesday, said Alex Reed, spokesman for Secretary of State Mark Martin, who serves as chairman of the board. Read More »

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Arkansas Comments Off Topics: Crittenden County, Hudson Hallum, John Geelan, voter fraud

Authorities investigating East Arkansas primary, monitors requested | Arkansas News

Jul 062011

State police investigators are looking into allegations of voter fraud in the Democratic runoff for a vacant East Arkansas state House seat, and a state panel will decide this week whether to send poll watchers to monitor the special general election to fill the seat later this month.

Democrat Hudson Hallum faces Republican John Geelan — both are from Marion — in the July 12 special election to replace former state Rep. Fred Smith, a Democrat from Crawfordsville who resigned the District 54 House seat after just days in the Legislature in January after he was convicted of felony theft in Chicot County.

Democrat Kim Felker of Crawfordsville contends “there were a lot of irregularities” in the primary runoff she lost to Hallum. 2nd District Prosecutor Scott Ellington confirmed last week he asked state police to investigate Felker’s allegations, including that a man offered to provide absentee votes to her from two West Memphis wards in exchange for money or political favors. Read More »

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Arkansas Comments Off Topics: absentee voting, voter fraud
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