Smiley, Allen win city board seats
Director Carol Smiley retained her seat on the city board of directors while David Allen defeated Director Bob Coleman during the Nov. 3 municipal runoff election.
Smiley won City Director Position Six with 2,752 votes (51.72 percent), according to complete but unofficial results published on Benton County’s website. Her challenger Nathanael Stone received 2,569 votes (48.28 percent). Results will not be official until they are certified on Nov. 13, according to Channing Barker, Benton County County communications director.
Smiley has served on the city board for 19 years and on the planning commission for seven years. During the Aug. 11 primary, Smiley received 459 votes ( 47.81 percent), Stone received 297 votes ( 30.94 percent) and Bob Hollaway came in third with 204 votes ( 21.25 percent).
Allen won City Director Position Seven, defeating Coleman with 2,743 votes (51.31 percent) to Coleman’s 2,603 votes (48.69 percent), according to unofficial results. Allen will begin his term on the city board in January 2021.
Coleman has served on the city board for eight years. During the Aug. 11 primary, he received 427 votes (45.28 percent).
Allen served on the city board of directors for Ward 1 from 19952002 and was then elected to serve as mayor from 2009-2012. During the primary election, Allen received 318 votes (33.72 percent) while Kevin Williams came in third with 297 votes (31.53 percent).
Mayoral candidate Judy Nation, who ran unopposed, received 5,240 votes (100 percent).
Nation previously served on the city board for 15 years and the planning commission for three years.
County Justice of the Peace
Incumbent Kurt S. Moore (R) retained his position as District 13 Justice of the Peace with 4,718 votes (77.87 percent). His challenger Haley Emerick (D) received 1,341 votes (22.13 percent).
State elections
State Rep. Robin Lundstrum (R) of Springdale retained her seat in District 87. In Benton County, she received 4,804 votes (75.81 percent), defeating her opponent Michael Bennett(D) of Siloam Springs. Bennett-Spears received 1,533 votes (24.19 percent) in Benton County.
Bennett-Spears fared slightly better in Washington County, where he received 2,205 votes (28.07 percent). Lundstrum received 5,649 votes (71.93 percent) in Washington County, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Delia Haak (R) of Gentry won the District 91 race, receiving 13,408 votes (72.58 percent) in Benton County, over her opponent Nick Jones (D), who received 5,066 votes (27.42 percent). District 91 does not extend outside of Benton County. Haak also prevailed in both the Republican primary in March and a subsequent runoff election. She will replace Dan Douglas, who did not seek re-election.
State Senator Jim Hendren (R-District 2) defeated challenger Ryan Craig with 32,593 votes (74.52 percent) compared to Craig’s 11,739 votes (26.48 percent). In Benton County, Hendren received 23,270 votes (73.42 percent) to Craig’s 8,423 votes (26.58 percent.)
Ballot Issues
Arkansas voters chose to make a one-half percent sales tax permanent, with 55.2 percent of votes in favor of the ballot measure. In Benton County, voters cast 66,917 votes (57.20 percent) for Issue 1. Votes against Issue 1 were 50,079 (42.80 percent). Issue 1 passed statewide with 653,706 votes or 55.2 percent of the vote for the issue and 528,816 or 44.7 percent of the vote against the measure, according to the Arkansas DemocratGazette.
The one-half percent sales tax was originally introduced in 2013 as a tax to improve state, county and city roads and bridges. The tax was scheduled to sunset in 2023.
Issue 2, regarding the imposition of term limits of 12 consecutive years for state legislators with the opportunity to return after a four-year break, was also passed by Arkansas voters by 55.3 percent. In Benton County there were 69,765 (60.86 percent) votes in favor of the measure and 44,865 votes (39.14 percent) against it.
Issue 3, concerning a change to requirements for citizens’ initiatives and legislative referrals did not pass. In Benton County, it received 54,442 votes (49.06 percent). Local votes against Issue 3 totaled 56,534 (50.94 percent).
Voters statewide cast 632,769 votes (55.9 percent) against Issue 3 while 498,742 votes (44.1 percent) were in favor of the measure.
Issue 6, regarding changes to optometry practices, also passed statewide. In Benton County, 66,451 voters (62.39 percent) were in favor of the measure and 40,054 voters (37.61 percent) were against the measure.
All votes for this issue will not be counted due to a ruling from the Arkansas Supreme Court on Sept. 17, which stated Issue 6 did not qualify for the ballot because of problems with the paperwork certifying that canvassers had passed required background checks, according to uaex.edu.
The state’s highest court ruled the signatures collected by those canvassers could not be counted, therefore sponsors did not have the required voter signatures to qualify the proposed constitutional amendment for the ballot, the website states.
National candidates
U.S. Rep. Steve Womack (R) defeated Celeste Williams (D) to retain his seat representing Arkansas’ 3rd Congressional District. In Benton County, he received 76,513 votes (64.40 percent) compared to Williams 37,176 votes (31.29 percent), and Michael J. Kalagias (L) 5,125 votes (4.31 percent).
On the state level Womack received 213,944 votes (64.41 percent), according to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
U.S. Senator Tom Cotton defeated his opponent Ricky Dale Harrington Jr. by 66.67 percent. In Benton County, Cotton received 75,688 votes (64.82 percent) while Harrington received 41,079 votes (35.18 percent).
Benton County voters chose President Donald J. Trump and Michael R. Pence (R) with 73,605 votes (61.77 percent). Trump won the state of Arkansas with 755,815 votes (62.5 percent) and gained six electoral votes.
Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) and his running mate Kamala Harris received 41,894 votes (35.16 percent) and Jo Jorgensen (L) and her running mate Jeremy “Spike” Cohen received 1,956 votes (1.64 percent) in Benton County.
Biden received 417,897 votes or 34.6 percent of the vote from the state of Arkansas.
Jorgensen received 13,039 votes (1.1 percent) statewide.
Other presidential candidates received the following votes in Benton County:
• Brock Pierce, Kara Ballard (I) 271 votes (0.23 percent).
• Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente, Darcy G. Richardson (I) 149 votes (0.13 percent).
• C.L. Gammon, Phil Collins (I) 102 votes (.09 percent).
• Howie Hawkins, Angela Walker (G) 274 votes (0.23 percent).
• John Richard Myers, Tiara Suzanne Lusk (LAL) 90 votes (0.08 percent).
• Phil Collins, Billy Joe Parker (I) 114 votes (0.10 percent).
• Kanye West, Michelle Tidball (I) 323 votes (0.27 percent).
• Gloria La Riva, Sunil Freeman (SAL) 103 votes (0.09 percent).
• Brian Carroll, Amar Patel (AMS) 170 votes (0.14 percent).
• Don Blankenship, William Mohr (CON) 115 votes (0.10 percent).