Northeast Arkansas voters approve paper ballot ordinance in Independence County

From Arkansas Lawyer:

Independence County voters Tuesday night approved an ordinance that will call for elections to be conducted using paper ballots that are marked and counted by hand.

According to complete but unofficial data, 8,309 district residents voted for the resolution, and 5,184 voted against it.

Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative (AVII) CEO Conrad Reynolds has long supported a shift from using electronic voting machines to using only paper ballots and said Tuesday’s results showed voters have “speaked loud and clear” on the issue. Reynolds, in a press release, called on state leaders to “listen to the will of the people.”

“I implore Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders to listen to Arkansans and take action to remove voting machines from our state,” he said. “People have expressed their preference for secure and transparent elections, and it’s time to honor that by moving entirely to paper ballots.”

Paper Ballot Marking and Counting Ordinance of 2024 requires elections to be counted using hand-marked paper ballots, except for people with disabilities who can continue to use a voting machine.

Attorney Clint Lancaster, who also represents AVII, filed the lawsuit on behalf of plaintiffs in nine Arkansas counties after county clerks failed to approve the proposed measure for the 2024 ballot. Judges dismissed cases in Conway, Johnson, Perry, Saline, Sharp and Van Buren counties. No decision has been made in the White County lawsuit.

Meanwhile, cases in Cleburne and Independence counties were appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court. The initiative appeared on the ballot in Independence County following a ruling by the state Supreme Court. October 17 affirmed the district court’s order directing the district clerk to certify the measure as sufficient.

Brian Norris, a plaintiff in the Independence County case and the lead petitioner for the ballot initiative, told the Advocate Wednesday that while the issue is controversial, proponents of the ordinance are willing to work with people who opposed the measure in moving to a new system.

“We love you all, we are all neighbors, we are brothers, we are sisters and most importantly, we are all patriotic Americans who care deeply about our community and country,” Norris said. “And it was just about creating a more transparent process and building a better future for all of us.”

As for the other eight petitioning counties “who were denied the opportunity to be heard,” Norris said he is willing to help them qualify for the ballot next time. Norris’ goal, he said, is to ensure elections can be held in any county that wants to hold elections using paper ballots.

Cleburne County The quorum court approved the resolution to switch to paper ballots in January 2023, but later overturned the decision.

Searcy County is the only one of Arkansas’ 75 counties that currently counts ballots by hand. The State Board of Elections is reviewing Searcy County’s handling of the 2024 primary election. found some inaccuracies in manual counting processes.

Advocates for switching from electronic voting machines to paper ballots marked and counted by hand often cite concerns about election integrity. Studies have shown that ballot scanning machines are more accurate than hand counting, including 2018 study co-authored with the Director of the MIT Election Data and Science Laboratory and separate study since the early 2000s.

As debate over electronic voting machines and hand-marked paper ballots has gained momentum in recent years, state election officials, as well as Saline and Garland county officials, protected the safety and integrity use of voting machines during elections.

State lawmakers also weighed in, including Sen. Ken Hammer, R-Benton, who sponsored Law 350 of 2023which requires counties to switch to paper ballots pay the relevant expenses yourself.

“Don’t you think it’s very sad that the state is going to punish us for choosing to go down a path that they don’t want us to go down,” Norris said. “They will pay for the cars, but how dare we decide to use a different process… I think it’s inappropriate and I think it’s egregious of Mr. Hammer to do this.”

Norris argued that using paper ballots would be cheaper than using electronic voting machines, which require additional costs such as software upgrades and maintenance. Meanwhile, Independence County Judge Kevin Jeffrey, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday, said switching to paper ballots would be “very costly” in post on social network last month.

“The reason for this is that the process is labor intensive and every voter in our county will need a ballot at every polling place for every election,” Jeffrey wrote. “In other words, even if the voter does not vote, the ballot must be there and ready for the voter. Counting ballots manually will also be labor-intensive and require many man-hours.”

A message left with Independence County Board of Elections Chairwoman Leah Barber about the estimated costs of switching to paper ballots was not immediately returned Wednesday afternoon.