What’s different in nonpartisan or primary election?

What’s to know as the May 24 primary and nonpartisan elections for 2022 approach.

First of all — everyone wishing to vote must be registered by April 25.

If you are a first time voter, this is a paramount deadline — you must be registered 30 days prior to the election.

There are no exceptions to this rule in Arkansas.

Voter registration can be done at the County Clerk’s office during normal business hours or at the Division of Motor Vehicles offices, but still the deadline to register to vote in the May 24 election is April 25.

Next comes the issue of primary elections vs. nonpartisan elections.

Arkansas has what is called an open primary — meaning that voters prior to the election do not have to register with a particular political party to vote.

Primary elections are held by each political party — in Arkansas that is the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Each party holds its own primary, both on the same date and at the same locations.

Voters must cast ballots in only one party’s primary — you cannot vote in both the Democratic and Republican primaries.

Nonpartisan elections are held for the judicial races — those of prosecuting attorneys and judges.

Remember prosecuting attorneys and judges DO NOT run, campaign or file under political party banners. Also, they must, according to judicial rules, not affiliate with a political party while serving as a judge.

Nonpartisan elections are held on the same date as primary elections for both the major political parties. There is one major difference and that is in the runoffs, should one occur, in the nonpartisan election.

All the prosecuting attorney and judicial races and all tax issues before the voters will appear on each political party’s ballot, as well as on the non-partisan ballot.

If you vote Republican, the judges and prosecutors’ races and all tax issues will appear on your ballot. The same if you vote a Democratic ballot.

If you do not wish to vote on a party’s ballot — then the non-partisan ballot for judges and prosecuting attorney races, would be the ballot for you.

However, note there will be no political races, for example for governor, lieutenant governor or state representative, on the non-partisan ballot.

Now, trying to explain how to vote on primary election day.

A voter may request a Republican ballot or a Democratic ballot or a non-partisan ballot.

They will then vote that ballot, and a record of the primary voted in by the voter will be maintained, in the case of a run-off in the same Republican race. Voters who have cast ballots as Democrats in the primary will not be eligible to vote in the Republican primary runoff.

The same works for early voting, that begins May 9, before the actual primary election on May 24.

Early voting locations, times and dates will be announced for each county, closer to the early voting election starting date.

Again, you must be a registered voter to vote early.

If a voter is requesting an absentee ballot by mail, they can do so now, but the last day to request a ballot the deadline is May 17.

All absentee ballots must be returned to the County Clerk’s office, by mail, or by hand before the close of polls at 7:30 p.m. on May 24.

Arkansas voters will head to the primary polls in May to weigh in on candidates for a wide variety of offices in the state’s 2022

election, including high-profile races for governor and U.S. Senate.

Primary elections are how political parties in Arkansas select their nominees for the general election in November of 2022.

A candidate must win 50% of the tally plus one vote to win outright a primary race in their party.

If no candidate reaches that threshold, the two candidates with the greatest number of votes move on to a runoff election on June 21.

In a nonpartisan runoff, voters choose between the top two candidates on the November 2022 general election ballot.

Voting is a privilege that comes with rules and regulations set by state and federal laws. ••• Maylon Rice is a former journalist who worked for several northwest Arkansas publications. He can be reached via email at maylontrice@yahoo.com. Opinions expressed are those of the author.