STATE APPOINTS monitor to PB election sites.

Candidate requested move after ballot error discovered

PINE BLUFF — A state-appointed election monitor will oversee the ballot count in four Pine Bluff precincts after the state Board of Election Commissioners approved a request by one of the candidates affected by a ballot error that was discovered last week during early voting.

Keidra Burrell, of Pine Bluff, a candidate in the Democratic primary race for the District 27 state Senate seat, made the request Friday afternoon.

On Monday afternoon, in a special meeting, the state board unanimously approved the appointment of former Faulkner County election commissioner Bruce Haggard as the monitor for Jefferson County.

Burrell’s primary opponent, former Rep. Garry Smith of Sheridan, did not formally request a monitor but was “excited” to learn one may be appointed, said Chris Madison, legal counsel for the state Board of Election Commissioners.

The winner of the Democratic Primary race will face Republican Sen. Trent Garner, the incumbent, in November.

Earlier on Monday, election commissioners in Jefferson County voted to also request an election monitor from the state board, and to toss out approximately 152 early votes from those precincts that were miscast in early voting.

Those votes were mistakenly cast in the District 25 State Senate race due to a ballot error that was not discovered until Thursday during early voting at the Jefferson County Courthouse. The error had placed the District 25 race between Democrats Efrem Elliott of White Hall and Sen. Stephanie Flowers of Pine Bluff on those ballots instead of the District 27 race between Smith and Burrell. There is no Republican candidate in the District 25 race.

Commissioners also voted to not count any votes in that race from 15 absentee ballots that were mailed out by the county clerk’s office. The commission will instead count corrected ballots from those voters that were sent out by the clerk’s office provided those ballots are filled out and postmarked by today.

Voters in the four precincts which omitted the District 27 race are being contacted by the Jefferson County Clerk’s office to come in again and vote in the correct race. Those voters have until the polls close on election night to correct their votes at the clerk’s office. After the polls close, officials will identify the wrongfully cast ballots in the District 25 race and cull them from the total by identifying

non-eligible voters.

Tensions have run high over the ballot error, which Commissioner Stuart “Stu” Soffer, a Republican, admitted responsibility for, citing human error in programming the ballot, an explanation which has rankled some Jefferson County Democrats and even prompted the Democratic Party of Arkansas to demand his resignation or removal.

Monday’s meeting in Pine Bluff was contentious, with Soffer and Commissioner Theodis “Ted” Davis trading barbs, interrupting one another, and the meeting being gaveled to an immediate recess after Soffer said he would not participate unless a sheriff’s deputy was present, due to the contentious nature of the election commission meetings in recent months.

Within a few minutes, a deputy from the Jefferson County sheriff’s office arrived and the meeting resumed, although the tenor of the meeting was no less contentious than in recent meetings.

During a period of public comment, Sam Whitfield, a candidate for Pine Bluff City Council, accused county election chairman Michael Adam, a Republican, and Soffer of violating the trust of voters and the integrity of the election in Jefferson County, suggesting that they had violated federal election law as well, and demanded that they resign.

“I have been offended by it. Not only the 152 who have voted, but the people who expect to receive their rights are the people they want to have to represent them,” Whitfield said. “You attempt to do this by telling the people to come back in and vote but that has not cured the problem. The problem is you Mr. Adam and you Mr. Soffer. You need to resign your position. The people of Jefferson County do not recognize you.”

Soffer responded to Whitfield that his comments were ill-advised, and he should take his objections to the county clerk’s office.

“You are unclear on what occurred and as far as those people coming back in, that is under the purview of the county clerk,” Soffer said.

Today, when the early votes are tallied and absentee votes are counted, the election monitor will watch Jefferson County’s procedures to ensure mistakes are corrected in the four Pine Bluff precincts in which voters who were supposed to receive Senate District 27 ballots instead received District 25 ballots.

Also, the monitor will be responsible for ensuring that ballots are accurate at the lone polling place serving these four precincts, observing the initial canvassing of the absentee ballots from those precincts, returning to the problematic

polling location at 7 p.m. to observe the poll closing procedures (polls close at 7:30 p.m.) and finally going to the headquarters of the county election commission to observe as votes are counted for those precincts.

The monitor will submit a report to the State Board of Election Commissioners within two weeks after polls close on Tuesday, commission director Daniel Shults said.

Madison said he spoke with Soffer on Monday morning and confirmed the county’s machines have been programmed correctly for Election Day.

Additionally, Shults said the Democratic Party of Arkansas delivered a letter to the state board on Friday requesting steps be taken to review the accuracy of ballots.

“Unfortunately, some of what they’ve [asked] exceeds our authority. Essentially, they’re asking for an investigation of the county’s accuracy in producing the ballots,” Shults said at the meeting. “Because of the statute, we can only investigate specific allegations of wrongdoing and only if those allegations are made within 30 days of the election to which they correspond.”

The commissioners approved a response to the Democratic Party explaining the board’s limited authority.

The polls in Jefferson County, and across Arkansas, open at 7:30 a.m. and will be open until 7:30 p.m. As of Monday at 5 p.m., the close of early voting, the Jefferson County Clerk’s office reported that 5,034 early votes had been cast, 903 of those on Monday.

Madison stressed that under Arkansas law, it is the voter’s responsibility to ensure that the ballot they are voting is correct.

“If the voter thinks they don’t have the right ballot, they should always raise an issue before they cast it,” he said. “Once you cast it, you can’t bring that back.”

Madison said if a voter thinks they have been given the wrong ballot, they should request the ballot they believe they should be given and cast a provisional ballot. Once that ballot is checked, and it turns out the voter did ask for the correct ballot, Madison said it will be counted. He said there have been instances where voters received the wrong ballot due to complexities in drawing the various political boundaries at the state, county, city, district, precinct, and ward levels.

“At the end of the day, the voter is responsible for making sure he or she has the correct ballot,” he said. “While this is not the correct answer that we want, [the local election commission] could just say the votes are the votes, but as I understand it, that’s not what Jefferson County is doing. They are going above and beyond to try to make this right, and I think that’s the right approach.”