Early voting starts Tuesday in the June 21 primary runoff election in which there are contested runoffs for 10 legislative seats and various county offices in 3o of the state’s 75 counties.
There is no primary runoff for a statewide office, but there are Republican runoffs for three state Senate seats and seven state House of Representatives seats to determine GOP nominees. Two candidates advanced to each of the runoffs by being the two top vote-getters in the May 24 primary election without winning a majority of the votes in their respective races.
In the May 24 nonpartisan judicial election, state Supreme Court Justice Robin Wynne of Little Rock and District Judge Chris Carnahan of Conway advanced to the runoff. The judicial runoff will be held in concert with the Nov. 8 general election.
Registered voters eligible to participate in the June 21 primary runoffs include voters who cast ballots in the May 24 GOP primary and any registered voters who didn’t cast ballots in the May 24 Democratic primary.
Voters who cast ballots in the May 24 primary must vote in the same party primary in the run-off. Under Arkansas Code Annotated 7-1-103 (a) (18) (B), “No person shall cast a ballot or vote in the preferential primary of one (1) political party and then cast a ballot or vote in the general primary of another political party in this state…”
Early voting for the runoffs will run during normal office hours of the respective county clerk, said Kevin Niehaus, a spokesman for Republican Secretary of State John Thurston. There will be no early voting on Saturday, he said.
The office hours of the clerks can vary, he said. Some clerks’ office hours are 8 a.m.-5 p.m., some are 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., and some are 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
The highest-profile primary runoffs for the Legislature are the Senate District 28 rematch pitting former Sen. Bryan King of Green Forest against Sen. Bob Ballinger of Ozark and the Senate District 22 race with Rep. John Payton of Wilburn vying to oust Sen. James Sturch of Batesville.
The other Senate runoff is the Senate District 35 race with businessman Tyler Dees of Siloam Springs seeking to defeat Rep. Gayla McKenzie of Gravette.
There are runoffs for various county elected posts in 30 of the state’s 75 counties.
For example, there are runoffs for sheriff in Crawford, Greene, Lafayette, Lee, Miller, Stone and Van Buren counties, according to the Association of Arkansas Counties’ website.
There also are runoffs for county judge in 12 counties. They are Baxter, Boone, Carroll, Crawford, Howard, Izard, Lawrence, Poinsett, Prairie, Randolph, Searcy and Washington, according to the association’s website.
Thurston’s office declined to project voter turnout in the runoff election.
According to the secretary of state’s website, 457,856, or 26%, of the state’s 1.76 million registered voters cast ballots in the primary, according to the secretary of the state’s website.
In the 2020 primary election, 487,409 voters — 28% of the state’s 1.74 million registered voters — cast ballots, the secretary of state’s office reported. However, in the 2020 runoff, 3,839 voters cast ballots, according to the secretary of state’s website. There were Republican runoffs for three state House seats in the 2020 runoff election.
Jennifer Price, executive director of the Washington Election Commission, said she expects about 13,000 voters to cast ballots in the runoff election. In Washington County, there are Republican runoffs for county judge, a state House seat, a state Senate seat, a justice of the peace post and a constable position, she said.
In Washington County, 29,598, or 21.4%, of 138,474 registered voters cast ballots in the primary election, according to the secretary of state’s office.
Amanda Dickens, assistant election coordinator for the Pulaski County Election Commission, said she expects about 3,000 voters in the runoff election in Pulaski County in which there is a constable runoff and Republican justice of the peace…
Read More: Runoff voting to begin Tuesday