Early voting totals jump in first week

More voters have cast ballots in the state’s largest counties during the first week of early voting for the Nov. 6 general election than in the 2014 and 2010 midterm elections, county voting officials across Arkansas said Monday.

The numbers seen last week are significant even when accounting for increases in voter registration over the years, said Dana Caler, the Benton County elections administrator.

Officials attributed the early turnout partly to an increasing awareness of early voting’s convenience. The possibility of higher voter turnout also coincides with more contested local races than usual, changing political leanings in Arkansas and an increasingly tense national political scene, some election officials said.

It’s difficult to say if the early voting increase means more people will vote this year, Washington County Election Coordinator Jennifer Price said. Several counties have added early voting sites in recent years.

Five-way mayoral races are happening in Little Rock and Bentonville. In Pulaski County, the mayors of three cities decided not to run for re-election and fresh faces are competing for old and new votes.

The ballot is longer this year than it was in 2016 in Washington County, Price said.

“I think just a general interest in the elections and running for office has contributed to that,” she said.

All but five of the county’s 15 justice of the peace districts are contested this fall, Price said. Five of eight state house and both state senate elections have at least two candidates.

Through Saturday, 14,851 people had voted in Washington County — more than 11 percent of registered voters. That’s more than double the 2014 first-week turnout, which was 6,488 people, or 5.6 percent of registered voters.

In Pulaski County, firstweek early voting turnout went from 7.4 percent in 2010 to nearly 13 percent this year. Another 5,649 people voted early Monday, bringing the county’s total to 36,949 early voters.

“I think the biggest reason is you have a lot more people engaging in the process, a lot more candidates, a lot more ad spending,” Pulaski County Director of Elections Bryan Poe said.

Little Rock had 27 candidates file to run for city offices this year, a 50-year record. The five-way race for mayor doesn’t include current mayor Mark Stodola, who decided not to seek re-election for personal reasons.

Outside of the downtown Pulaski County polling place, at the corner of Markham Street and Broadway, voters said Monday they were voting early because it was easier.

For Elizabeth Mayfield-Hart, voting early meant she could still make her voice heard before going on vacation to Florida next week. Kraig Butler said it meant he didn’t have to worry about fitting it into his busy work schedule next Tuesday, and for Jasmine Payton it meant avoiding waiting in lines.

“I vote early every year,” said Payton, who was in nursing scrubs with her small son tagging along. “I don’t like the crowds.”

Butler, 41, doesn’t usually vote early. He last cast a pre-Election Day ballot in 2008, although he votes every year. The line was “nonexistent” Monday, he said, and voting was “just much easier.”

Mayfield-Hart said she enjoys voting on Election Day and wearing the stickers that say “I voted” instead of “I voted early.”

“It makes me feel very Democratic,” she said.

But she realized a couple of weeks ago that she wouldn’t be in town for Election Day and thought this election was too important to miss.

“I feel like the integrity of our government is at stake here,” she said.

Benton County’s firstweek early voting has more than doubled since 2010 as the county has also nearly doubled its early voting polling places.

A total of 6,402 voters cast ballots through the first Saturday in 2010, when total registered voters numbered 105,873, Caler said. In 2018, 20,701 of Benton County’s 158,896 registered voters voted during the same period. That’s a change from 6 percent of voters turning out during the first week to 13 percent. It was 8.8 percent in 2014.

Benton County also has 12 early voting sites this year compared to nine in 2014 and and even fewer in 2010, Caler said.

“We have a bunch of local mayor races going this time,” Caler said.

In Sebastian County, more than 10 percent of registered voters had cast ballots through Saturday, outpacing the 2014 overall total early voting turnout of 17.5 percent.

About 11 percent of Craighead County voters had cast ballots through Saturday, Craighead County Clerk Kade Holliday said.

“It’s definitely up,” said Holliday, attributing the increase to convenience and an interest in the city council race between L.J. Bryant and Robert Speer and an option for Brookland residents to annex more land into the city.

In Saline County, 12,353 people had voted through Saturday, according to the county clerk’s office. That’s 16.3 percent of registered voters. This year, five of seven state legislative seats are contested. In 2014, only two were. Five were in 2010.

Eight of the 13 justice of the peace positions also will be on the ballot this year. Only two were in 2014, and three were in 2010.

Municipal elections are often nonpartisan but county elections are always partisan, and hundreds of candidates are running for county offices this year.

According to the Association of Arkansas Counties, Democrats are still running more candidates for county offices than Republicans — 778 compared to 744. More Democrats are running for countywide offices than Republicans (352 compared to 309), but more Republicans are running for justice of the peace spots (435 compared to 426).

A third of the 75 county judge races are contested, according to the association. Chris Villines, the association’s executive director, said he believes that is higher than usual but not significantly higher.

Nearly another third of county judgeships — 24 — will go to unopposed Democrats and nearly another third — 22 — will go to unopposed Republicans. The remaining three judgeships will go to independents.

Republicans are running a lot more county judge candidates in places that didn’t vote for their party the last time, compared to Democrats. The Republican Party had 26 county judges in 2017 while the Democratic Party had 40. The Democratic Party has 45 county judge candidates this year while the Republican Party has 41.