Chris Madison, director of the State Board of Election Commissioners, leads a meeting in Little Rock on July 15, 2024. (Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate)
The State Board of Election Commissioners on Wednesday voted to sanction election officials in one Arkansas county where several hand-counted ballot mistakes occurred during the primary election.
Commissioners did not explicitly state which county’s board of election commissioners would receive the sanctions; however, only officials in Searcy County hand-counted ballots in March.
The investigation into the county that hand-counted ballots was among six that the SBEC considered at its meeting, all of which were discussed with some confidentiality. Reports remain private until 30 days after county officials accept the sanction, or deny it and prompt a public hearing.
The investigations stem from filed complaints, and the sanctions vary in severity.
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The SBEC recommended election officials in the county that hand-counted ballots be reprimanded for inaccurate totals, and for failing to report proper election night results to the secretary of state’s office, post hand-count totals at polling locations and call a public meeting to inform residents that there were issues with nonpartisan and absentee ballots cast.
“I think if you know you’re doing it for the first time, you really want to get it right and you do a better job than this,” Commissioner Bilenda Harris-Ritter said. “They should not be stumbling. It goes back to what I said about the public having confidence in the election process. [Officials] have obligations — and if they do it differently — to still do it right.”
A letter of reprimand is the most severe sanction the SBEC issues. It signifies a violation of law and “will require the respondent to refrain from engaging in the same activity again,” according to the SBEC.
The SBEC also recommended county election officials receive a letter of warning for putting the secrecy of votes at risk by using a transparent ballot box.
“I didn’t find a law that expressly prohibited this conduct, other than running into the risk of exposing the voters’ ballot,” SBEC Director Chris Madison said. “I recommend a letter of warning on this and a directive to ensure the box is covered up at the time voters are voting, so you are not relying on luck to ensure that voters’ secrecy isn’t violated.”
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A letter of caution is one step down from reprimand, and a letter of instruction is the lowest sanction that signifies no law violations.
The letters are posted publicly, and Madison said the SBEC would deliver those approved on Wednesday later this week.
While some commissioners felt strongly about issuing the most severe sanction to the county that hand-counted ballots, Commissioner Jamie Clemmer said the county was on uncharted ground, and he didn’t want to act in retribution or retaliation.
Commissioner Johnathan Williams also noted the learning experience that comes when trying something new.
State Board of Election Commissioners Jamie Clemmer and Bilenda Harris-Ritter during a meeting on July 15, 2024, to consider a permanent rule requiring “wet signatures” on Arkansas voter registration forms except at select state agencies. (Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate)
Harris-Ritter repeatedly argued that if county officials had questions about the process, they should have called for guidance.
“There was assistance available for them, and they didn’t do it,” she said. “They went ahead and messed it up, and that’s not OK. They have a fiduciary duty to get it right.”
Michael Harry, a representative from the secretary of state’s office who conducts the SBEC meetings, noted the importance of voters being confident in the voting process.
“We don’t have a system issue,” Harry said. “We have a confidence issue. You know, they’re wanting to fix something that’s not broken. And if we have issues like this, they’re going to start thinking they’re broken.”
After the March primary, Searcy County was one of 15 counties chosen at random to have its primary election results audited by the SBEC. While counties that exclusively used electronic voting machines had 100% accuracy, the SBEC audit found Searcy County had several discrepancies.
At a legislative meeting in June, Searcy County officials said they had learned from issues that arose during the primary, including 11 ballots that weren’t counted.
“It was a learning curve because we had never done it before, and we didn’t have any direction about how to do it. But our goal was to have a transparent, secure, quality election to the best of our ability under the circumstances,” county election commission Chairwoman Laura Gross said at the time.
Madison told commissioners that county officials seemed committed to improvement during the interview process of the investigation report. He said that he had no doubt officials wanted to have a good election.
Madison said it is his impression that Searcy County officials will again conduct a hand count for the November general election. They will, however, use a calculator with a paper roll when counting.
The SBEC also issued a letter of reprimand to an election commissioner in a different, unnamed county whom Madison said admitted to running result tapes early on election day due to being “overly eager to complete the task.”
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