Secretary Daniels Announces New State Election Laws
Monday, Apr 13, 2009
Separate presidential primary repealed, ballot issue titles simplified
LITTLE ROCK, AR— Arkansas Secretary of State Charlie Daniels today announced a series of election bills passed by the 87th General Assembly that will impact the state’s voters and election administrators.
“My office will be working with election officials across the state this summer to educate them on the new requirements in advance of the 2010 elections,” Sec. Daniels said. “Of particular importance to the state’s voters is the change in the date of the presidential primary from February, as it was in 2008, back to May with the statewide preferential primary.” Sec. Daniels continued, “Voters will also notice that the ballot issue titles will be simpler in that there will be only one ballot issue number one, two, and so on.”
Secretary Daniels’s election legislative package, including Acts 659, 703, 959, 1480 and HB 1485, sought to streamline election administration and improve the voting process.
Act 659 (SB 353) sponsored by Senator Steve Faris (District 27) revises Amendment 51, the voter registration provision in the state constitution. This new law cleans up the language regarding felons to make it consistent with other sections of the code, allows overseas voters to vote absentee without prior registration by submitting a federal post card application, and requires county-to-county voter registration transfers to be received in the county clerk’s office not later than four days before the election, among other clarifications.
Act 703 (HB 1879) sponsored by Representative Bobby Pierce (District 19) clarifies that county clerks do not send special runoff ballots to overseas and uniformed voters for judicial elections since the nonpartisan judicial runoff is held concurrently with the general election in November instead of in June with the other races.
Act 959 (SB 813) sponsored by Sen. Faris allows school boards to wait an additional year after the census to draw school zones, allows county boards of election commissioners to publish notice of voting machine testing and to abbreviate titles for candidates if space considerations require it, among other technical clean up provisions.
Act 1480 (SB 894) sponsored by Sen. Faris clarifies and improves language and procedures in the election code regarding candidate filing, voting machines, special elections, ballots, and recounts. This act requires all candidates to file affidavits of eligibility, prohibits candidates from poll watching at polling places, clarifies that a voting machine’s internal audit data may be used in a recount in some instances, sets the date for certain special elections, and revises the filing deadlines for community college board candidates, among other changes to the code.
HB 1485 sponsored by Representative Rick Saunders (District 24) would have required each county to hire an election coordinator to administer elections. With as many as four people currently responsible for election administration at the county level, Arkansas is one of the few remaining states to continue to rely primarily on volunteers to administer elections that have become increasingly time-consuming and technologically complex with the passage of federal mandates.
Rep. Saunders withdrew the bill and referred it to interim study after county judges and circuit clerks had second thoughts about the immediate diversion of commercial financing statement fees from their 2009 budgets to the state to pay for general elections. The $2.5 million freed by the state taking over the general elections would have been used to hire the coordinators.
New election laws of note that were not part of the Secretary of State’s legislative package include Acts 188, 281, 292, 375, 658, 812, 1294, and 1407.
Act 188 (HB 1246) sponsored by Representative Richard Carroll (District 39) and Senator Mary Anne Salmon (District 31) increases the period of time during which petitions for qualification as an independent candidate or new political party may be circulated from 60 days prior to the filing deadline to 90 days.
Act 281 (HB 1404) sponsored by Representative Kathy Webb (District 37) and Senator Steve Bryles (District 15) provides that statewide ballot issues are assigned their own number chronologically upon approval in an effort to help voters distinguish between ballot issues by number.
Act 292 (SB 45) sponsored by Senator Jerry Taylor (District 23) requires county boards of election commissioners to consult with each school district regarding the number and location of polling sites for the district’s annual school election and modifies the formula by which school districts pay for their elections.
Act 375 (SB 56) sponsored by Senator Paul Miller (District 10) repeals the provision for a separate presidential preferential primary election held in February thus recombining this election with the statewide primary election in May.
Act 658 (SB 192) sponsored by Sen. Faris makes the act of possessing another’s absentee ballot with the intent to commit fraud a felony and makes it a misdemeanor to assist more than four disabled or illiterate persons at the polls.
Act 812 (SB 901) sponsored by Senator Sue Madison (District 7) allows county boards of election commissioners to reduce or eliminate the number of open polling places on primary election day if there are only unopposed candidates and no other ballot issues for consideration.
Act 1294 (HB 1646) sponsored by Representative David Rainey (District 11) requires at least one polling site in each county containing a city of the second class or larger that has registered electors in a school election for a school district in that county.
Act 1407 (HB 2266) sponsored by Representative Andrea Lea (District 68) requires that the number of petition signatures needed for district judge candidates is one percent of the qualified electors, but not more than 2,000 total.
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Contact: Natasha Naragon
Phone: (501) 683-1441
Email: natasha.naragon@sos.arkansas.gov
Arkansas Secretary of State Charlie Daniels
256 State Capitol Building
Little Rock, Arkansas 72201
Phone: (501) 682-1010
Website:
www.sos.ar.gov
Email: arsos@sos.ar.gov
