Senate committee considers changes in early-voting rules

Pausing between early voting and Election Day may help elections run more smoothly, said the lawmaker who filed the bill removing Monday before Election Day from the 13 days of early voting.

A hearing will be held today in the Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs for Senate Bill 485, filed by Sen. Kim Hammer, R-District 33, of Benton.

“With the unique circumstances we had this last time, everything is on the table for discussion, because it was such a unique atmosphere,” Hammer said. “This is just one piece of the puzzle we’re taking a look at.”

Per the state election code, early voting begins 15 days before Election Day. Polls are open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. Polls close at 5 p.m. on the Monday before Election Day.

The Garland County Election Commission said 2,217 people, or about 5% of the county’s turnout for the November general election, voted on the Monday before Election Day. Election Commission Chairman/ Election Coordinator Gene Haley said it was the busiest early voting day during the 2018 general election, with 2,400 people casting ballots.

“We confuse voters so much already by having to close by 5 o’clock on that Monday, which makes no sense,” Haley said. “To me, when you start an election you run an election until you’re done with it. I prefer early voting Monday, even though it’s harder on us, for the purposes of consistency.”

Hammer said some counties struggle to find poll workers for the Monday before Election Day. The 10-hour day is followed by a 12-hour day on Election Day. Haley said it’s not a problem for Garland County. The county has about 300 poll workers and a crew that delivers voting machines to about two dozen vote centers before Election Day voting begins at 7:30 a.m.

“It’s a little hard to get people that last day, because they know Election Day is going to be a long day,” Haley said. “Because we have enough poll workers, we’re able to get people who aren’t working Election Day to work that last Monday. It works fine for us.”

Hammer said the Monday hiatus may have helped counties process the record number of absentee ballots cast in November. Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s executive order allowed any registered voter to apply for a mail-in ballot, suspending the law that limits absentee voting to those unavoidably absent from the polls, those with disabilities or illnesses and residents of long term care facilities.

A subsequent executive order gave counties an extra week to process outer envelopes containing voter statements, copies of the voter’s ID or affidavits attesting to their identity. Act

249 passed earlier this month eliminated the affidavit, requiring voters to show their ID at the poll or return a copy of it with their absentee ballot.

The state election code doesn’t allow ballot-only envelopes to be opened until the morning of Election Day.

“The high number of absentee ballots cast created a new, unique circumstance,” Hammer said. “You have to ask yourself the question is it better to take a day off of the schedule, so you can have a day to make sure everything is handled accordingly and properly and all those absentee ballots are where they’re supposed to be.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas said the bill is a pretext for restricting voter access. It said more than

50,000 Arkansans voted on the Monday before Election Day in November.

“With advances in technology, we should be making voting more accessible, not moving backward to make it harder for Arkansans to vote,” ACLU of Arkansas Executive Director Holly Dickson said in a news release. “This is especially important given that Arkansas has the lowest voter turnout in the nation. But instead, we’ve seen large cuts to the number of polling places across the state and increased restrictions that serve only to suppress voter participation. We urge Arkansas lawmakers to oppose this harmful rollback of voting access.”

Hammer said most of the turnout for early voting happens during the first week. Giving counties a day to prepare for Election Day outweighs the need for a 13th day of early voting, he said.

“Prior to Monday, you’ve got 12 days before that and an opportunity to cast a ballot by absentee,” Hammer said. “I would rather make sure the process has 100% integrity. Make sure there’s plenty of time prior to Election Day to make sure all the absentee ballots are accounted for, that the boxes are where they’re supposed to be, that they’re secure, they’re being handled properly. To me that’s the greater importance. If people didn’t have two weeks before Monday, it might be a different conversation.”