Deadline to register to vote is Feb. 3

Arkansans have less than a month to register to vote in the March 3 preferential primary and nonpartisan judicial election.

(The deadline to register to vote is Monday, Feb. 3.)

The March 3 preferential primary election will be held by the political parties recognized in Arkansas, asking voters to vote for their candidates seeking contested offices within their political party.

In other words, there will be a primary election among the Democrats, and a separate primary election among the Republicans, on that date.

Also on that date will be a nonpartisan election for judicial seats at the local (District) and Circuit Court level.

The preferential primary will be held in all subdivisions of the state (offices) where two or more candidates of the same political party are seeking the same office.

An example: if two Republican candidates are running for the same Justice of the Peace position, then a preferential primary election will be held for that Justice of the Peace seat.

If there is a Democrat and a Republican candidate running for the same Justice of the Peace seat, that election, will not be held or decided until the November 2020 general election.

However, all candidates participating in the nonpartisan judicial election, will also be voted on and elected on March 3 with all candidates for judges, i.e. District (or formerly Municipal Court Judges), Circuit Court Judges (held in the particular Circuit Court District) and other-wide judicial races as State Supreme Court judgeships as well.

Those seeking both District and Circuit Court positions, do not run under the banner of the major political parties — and are thus called nonpartisan positions.

In other words, in all judicial races, there are no Democratic or Republican candidates — just nonpartisan judicial candidates.

All the judicial races will appear on both the Democratic and Republican Party ballots cast that day.

In Arkansas, a voter many not “cross-over” vote during the preferential primary election. A voter, may, however, decide not to cast ballots for either the Democratic or Republican candidates, and simply vote a nonpartisan judicial ballot.

Voters who vote in, say, the Republican primary, do not have to join the Republican Party and the same for Democratic primary voters. However, there will be record of the voter having cast a ballot in whichever preferential primary, the voter votes in that day.

If you are not currently registered to vote in Arkansas, you must fill out a paper voter registration application.

Do not be misled. You must fill out the paper voter registration application and that application must be filed with the local county clerk in the area in which you live by Feb. 3 in order to vote on March 3, 2020.

Voter registration applications are available at several locations, such as:

• The County Clerk’s office.

• The Arkansas Secretary of State’s Election Division by calling 1-800-482-1127.

• The local State Department of Revenue or Department of

Motor Vehicles office (where car

licenses are renewed and driver’s

licenses obtained).

• Any public library in Arkansas.

• Any state office for disability

benefits, food stamp benefits,

• Or at any military recruitment

office in Arkansas.

Voters should be aware, any voter registration table at a

Farmer’s Market, special event

or public gathering, where your information is filled out — you are responsible for getting that form to the local county clerk or

the Secretary of State’s office in a

timely manner to complete that registration.

If a group gathers voter registrations and does not turn the completed forms in to the proper authorities in the proper time period you cannot vote.

If you have not registered to vote in Arkansas, there are some registration requirements to register to vote:

• You must be a U.S. citizen.

• You must be an Arkansas

resident.

• You must be 18 years of age or

turn 18 years old on or before the next election date.

• You must not be a

convicted felon whose sentence has not been discharged or pardoned.

• You must not presently

be adjudged as mentally incompetent as to your ability to vote by a court of competent jurisdiction.

Registering to vote and voting is easy, safe and necessary to cast your ballots in the upcoming March 3 preferential primary and the nonpartisan judicial election.

— Maylon Rice is a former journalist who worked for several northwest Arkansas publications. He can be reached via email at maylontrice@yahoo.com. The opinions expressed are those of the author.