Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Election officials mull NWA group
Commissioners: Statewide association not filling needs
FAYETTEVILLE — A group of Northwest Arkansas election commissioners plans to start a regional organization to replace the statewide election commissioners association.
“We can really help each other,” said Bill Ackerman, Washington County Election Commission chairman. “The door is open to all the counties who want to be here.”
Commissioners from about 11 counties agreed Wednesday to hold an organizational meeting June 28 in Fayetteville. Previously, the local County Boards of Election Commissioners meetings have been attended by representatives from about seven Northwest Arkansas counties. Others, including Marion and Pope counties, were recently invited.
Commissioners said they want an organization that will lobby lawmakers, answer questions for how commissioners should implement new laws and provide peer-to-peer support.
The statewide association didn’t fill those needs, Ackerman said. Washington County dropped out of the association last year.
A Washington County led organization is more likely to bring issues to legislators’ attention, said Elaine Ryder, chairwoman of the Marion County Election Commission.
“They fight for what we need and what kind of problems we have,” Ryder said of Washington County.
The state association was formed in 2009 to give election commissioners continuing education and to include them in the legislative process, said Stu Soffer, past president of the association. Once the state association dissolves, only two regional groups — the other is in southwest Arkansas — will remain for election commissioners, said Jennifer Price, Washington County commission executive director.
Commissioners have been complaining about the statewide association for at least the past year.
Susan Inman, founder and executive director of the statewide group, sent the association’s board of directors a resignation letter Dec. 8, according to documents provided by Soffer. She asked a court Feb. 2 to dissolve the nonprofit organization and allow her and a lawyer to keep leftover money, according to Pulaski County Circuit Court records.
Inman said in email she did not want to comment on pending court matters. Members don’t plan to contest the dissolution, they said.
Inman has a long history of being involved in elections, county government and politics.
She ran as a Democrat for state representative for District 32 last year and lost to Rep. Jim Sorvillo, a Republican. She spent about $38,900 on her campaign with no carryover money or debts at the end of her campaign, according to records filed with the secretary of state. Her association’s attorney, Jerry Larkowski, contributed about $350 to Inman’s campaign.
Soffer said Inman has refused to turn over the association’s assets and bookkeeping records and continues to post to the association’s website without permission. Inman’s last post on the website was April 5 saying she filed court proceedings after getting no feedback from the board.
Soffer said he and others plan to attend a July 10 hearing and ask the judge to give the money left to the state, not to Inman. The association is funded by taxpayer money from counties statewide, he said.
IRS records show the association makes less than $50,000, but the record doesn’t list revenue and expenses. Inman listed $2,500 left in the association’s bank account, court records show.
Soffer previously ran the association’s bookkeeping and had about $5,000 or more left over yearly, he said. He said he thought the association should have had more money than $2,500.
Price said membership fees seem to be about $50 per person, but she has never seen any guidelines for amounts counties paid. Inman said in court records 62 counties had 295 members in the association last year. That totals about $14,700 in revenue for 2016.
Benton County paid $250 last year for five people to be members of the statewide association, said Mike Sevak, association president and Benton County election commissioner. Before dropping out, Washington County had paid $200 annually for four members, Price said.
Inman said in her 2015 statement of financial interest she worked under “contract labor” for the statewide election commissioners’ association and earned more than $1,000. The record was filed in February 2016.
The association should be audited because no one but Inman has access to the account, Soffer said.
Sevak’s name is not on the account, and Inman handled all the finances for the association, Sevak said.
A spokeswoman for Simmons Bank, which holds the account, did not have information Friday on how many signatures the bank requires for nonprofit organizations.
Inman wrote all the checks and handled the bank account, Sevak said. When she resigned, there should have been a board meeting, a new director elected and a new name put on the bank account. That didn’t happen, and she wasn’t the director any longer when she filed to dissolve the association, Sevak said.
Sevak said he remembered seeing a budget about a year and a half ago, but he didn’t remember how much it was for. Last year, the board decided to quit paying Inman $500 per month because the association meets only twice a year, Sevak said. The board also voted to stop paying a monthly fee to Larkowski, he said.
Sevak and Soffer said they didn’t know where the money the association took in annually went. Inman did not answer a email question asking about where the annual money sent by counties went.
Inman said in court documents the association’s board had lost interest in its work. Her petition for judicial relief asks members or board members to take over the organization or dissolve it, documents show.
Soffer said he and two other association members sought legal advice, but the amount left in the association is small. They were advised to allow the dissolution, he said. Soffer said education for commissioners could continue through the Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioners.
The state board was formed “to improve the orderly conduct of elections in the state by promoting fair and orderly election procedures through education, assistance and monitoring,” according to the board’s website.
Several commissioners said they are more interested in regional meetings. Participation was weak in the statewide association, Sevak said.
“The only thing everyone wanted to talk about was new voting equipment,” Sevak said. “Outside of that, when it came to election laws or anything like that, nobody picked up the phone and called anybody.”
“The only thing everyone wanted to talk about was new voting equipment. Outside of that, when it came to election laws or anything like that, nobody picked up the phone and called anybody.” — Mike Sevak, association president and Benton County election commissioner