Special election meeting held after mistake found on ballot
An error on the ballot sent Jefferson County election commissioners searching for a quick fix for absentee ballots that already have been printed, and some already sent out to voters.
According to an email sent out Tuesday morning by commission secretary Stuart “Stu” Soffer, Pine Bluff city clerk candidate Janis Roberts, who is uncontested in the November election, was erroneously listed as nonpartisan in her political affiliation when she is in fact a member of the Democratic Party.
“It is printed on absentee ballots and on the Express Vote touchscreen for all Pine Bluff precincts,” Soffer wrote. “When this occurs, Arkansas Code Annotated §7-5-206 requires us to meet, announce what occurred and immediately correct the error or omission or show cause why the correction should not be done.”
Soffer, who was absent from a special meeting Wednesday, said in the email that his recommendation was for County Clerk Shawndra Taggart’s office to begin making pen and ink corrections to any absentee ballots not yet mailed. He said the clerk’s office also could send a letter to any voters who received the erroneous ballots but, “given the nature of the contest and error, that would not be my recommendation.”
He said a notice on each Express Vote ballot marker in the Pine Bluff precinct informing voters of the error should take care of the problem at the polls, and he said vendor Election Systems and Software had been notified.
At the meeting, however, Taggart said she had been advised by the state Board of Election Commissioners not to mark any ballots, and to leave the ballots as they were printed.
“I was told we are not allowed to mark on the ballots,” Taggart said. “That came straight from
Chris Madison at the state board.”
Commissioners Michael Adam and Theodis “Ted” Davis concurred and made the decision to leave the ballots as they are and to notify Election Systems and Software of the error.
Adam and Davis certified a list of 241 poll workers and 31 stand-in workers to staff the county’s 39 polling sites.
The list included the absentee canvass team, clerks to process election materials, technicians, an election reporting manager and three auditors. All but two polling sites had at least five poll workers, a poll judge, poll sheriff, and three or more clerks assigned.
The Humphrey Community Center and Linwood Moscow Fire Department were assigned two clerks each in addition to the poll judge and poll sheriff.
Sven Hipp, a longtime employee of the commission, was named election administrator.
“At this time, all the polling sites are staffed,” Adam said.
Notably absent from any poll duties was election coordinator George Stepps, which raised an objection from Davis.
“He’s going to be here to help,” Adam said. “He’s not been appointed an election official, no.”
“He’s not an election official?” Davis asked.
“That is correct,” Adam responded, eliciting murmurs from the eight or so poll workers and candidates in attendance.
“I guess I don’t understand,” Davis said. “Has he not been working with polling places and securing people to work? How do you do that without being an election official?”
“That’s not the same thing as handling the ballots,” Adam said, his voice lowered. “And I don’t want to go any further into it.”
“I’m not trying to complicate this,” Davis said. “I’m just trying to understand if we’re going to have people working here on staff, what role are they going to play? This is going to be an extremely difficult election for us because in the general a lot of things are happening and I think you would agree with that.”
“He can be here and help, just not on the election items,” Adam insisted.
Adam noted that a supplemental appropriation request of $79,220 from the Election Commission was approved Tuesday by the Quorum Court.
“We were zero and below on several accounts,” he said. “So we’re good on that.”