Voters focus on Morgan, LS millage
The state’s gubernatorial race in November and the decision whether to adopt a millage that would give Lakeside School District funding to expand its campus appeared to be among the top concerns of voters who cast their ballots in Hot Springs Tuesday.
A number of voters interviewed by The Sentinel-Record outside of the Garland County Election Commission Building on Tuesday said voting for gun rights proponent Jan Morgan, the firebrand
Republican candidate and cable news commentator who infamously declared her Hot Springs gun range “Muslim-free” in 2014, was the main reason they showed up. Morgan challenged incumbent Gov. Asa Hutchinson in the Republican primary.
Amanda Casad, a voter who works in law enforcement, said she supports Morgan because of the candidate’s position on guns.
“I am big on gun rights,” Casad said. “With those gun rights, yes we need more laws so we don’t end up in the predicament we are in with more mass shootings. So I voted today for who I believe would express the same opinions I do.”
Another voter, Roger, who declined to give his last name, said that this is the first time he voted in a primary election. The main reason he decided to cast a ballot, he said, was to show support for Morgan.
“I like what Jan Morgan is putting out there,” the voter, who works as a conductor for a railroad company, said. “Our local government, our governor, he is not doing very well. Our taxes are just getting out of hand.”
Roger also said he voted against the Lakeside School District millage. “They have got way more than most schools,” he said. “They don’t need any more of my money.”
If approved, Lakeside’s millage rate of 37.70 would increase to 41.70, making it the third-highest among the county’s seven public school districts.
Betty, another voter who also declined to provide her last name, said that while she cast her ballot for Hutchinson, she worried she might have made the wrong decision.
“I did vote for Asa Hutchinson, but I wondered whether (Morgan), whether she would have been better?” she said. “But I just wasn’t sure. Sometimes when you hear things about candidates, that doesn’t mean they are true. I just pray I vote for the right people.”
Julianne McClain, who recently moved to Hot Springs from Louisiana, said she voted against the millage. “I always vote,” she said. “This is our first Arkansas election, and I picked who I wanted, but I have a feeling it may be a crazy election for governor,” she said. “But we have seen some crazy in Louisiana, so we are used to crazy.”
A voter named Jerry, who also declined to give his last name, said he showed up specifically to vote against the millage increase.
“If there is someone I know who is running, I vote,” he said. “If there is something I am for or against, I vote. I am against the Lakeside millage, so I came out to vote for that.”
George Ghetia, who works for a local nonprofit, said he also voted against the millage.
“That was an issue that mattered to me,” Ghetia said. “I also care very much about who moderates our judicial system and who enforces the laws, so those were all very important to me.”
With only a handful of Democrats on the ballot on Tuesday, liberal voters were harder to come by. But some did show up to support the party.
“I just wanted to give some support to the Democrats,” Thomas Nagin, who owns a gallery in Hot Springs, said. “I heard a little bit about the people who are running, but not that much, but I still wanted to come out and vote anyway. I just wanted to vote for the Democrats in general and some of the more liberal-leaning people on the ballot.”