Election Commission Reviews Ballot-Related
Legislation
Preparations Also Made For Elkins
School Election
By Dan Craft
March 8,
2003
FAYETTEVILLE --
Some election-related legislation introduced in the Arkansas General
Assembly will yield positive results, while other bills will hinder
election efforts, Washington County election officials said Friday
morning.
A bill filed by Rep. Marilyn Edwards,
D-Fayetteville, modifies the filing deadlines for independent and
municipal candidates, synchronizing their deadline with that of
party-affiliated and statewide office candidates. Moving that
deadline forward helps election officials by giving them more time
to print ballots, said John Burrow, chairman of the Washington
County Election Commission.
"Now, we don't have enough
turnaround time," Burrow said. "It can be tough to get all those
names in and the ballots printed before early voting starts."
The bill, House Bill 1985, was approved by the state House
of Representatives and will now be considered by the Senate.
Election commissioners also examined two bills filed by Sen.
Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville. One, Senate Bill 690, would modify how
commissioners consider absentee ballots. The bill would eliminate a
requirement that a ballot stub be removed from the ballot and placed
in a separate envelope before the ballot is mailed, said Bucky
Crouch, election commission coordinator.
"It's a simple
mistake that's often made, and right now, we have to disregard those
votes," Crouch said.
Commissioners had mixed feelings about
Madison's other bill, SB 618. The bill would set all special
elections on the second Tuesday of a month, and limit the number of
special elections a city or county could call within a calendar
year.
Standardizing special election dates is a good
scheduling move, but limiting the number of special elections may
not work, Burrow said.
"It's our job to conduct elections,
and when called on, we'll do so," Burrow said. "It comes with the
territory in a democracy that when you need a vote, you hold an
election."
SB 618 has been referred to the State Agencies
and Governmental Affairs Committee, while SB 690 is on the Senate
floor.
Another bill would allow for overseas ballots to be
equipped for an "instant runoff," letting military voters list their
second choice rather than mailing them a second ballot in the event
of a runoff. The bill will cause problems because Washington
County's counting machines aren't capable of reading such a ballot,
Crouch said.
The sponsor and status of that bill was not
immediately available.
In other business, the commission
decided to order a ballot for every voter in the Elkins School
District for its April 22 election. Turnout is expected to be high,
so a ballot for every voter will ensure that ballots do not run out,
said commissioner Tom Lundstrum.
