Category Archives: Elections

Five races to watch in May

Alabama, blue wave, school boards, Hixson, BreanneReady to vote again?

Arkansas’ party primaries are May 22, and that’s when many of the most interesting and competitive races will be, rather than in the November general election.

What are the races to watch? Depends on where you live, but let’s focus on five.

Governor’s race: A contrast

In the governor’s race, Gov. Asa Hutchinson faces a challenge from Jan Morgan. The governor is popular statewide and had $2 million banked as of his last campaign finance report. Morgan, a political newcomer, has little money.

But Morgan has an anti-establishment, Trumpian appeal. The Hot Springs shooting range owner who banned Muslims from her business knows how to call attention to herself. She’ll be able to run to Hutchinson’s right on guns, probably the most important issue in a Republican primary. Primaries attract low turnouts with more restless, dogmatic voters. That means an officeholder, even one with widespread general support, can be taken down by a small percentage of the electorate.

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School boards head to the big ballot

Alabama, blue wave, school boardsIf you’re like most voters in Arkansas, you rarely if ever cast a ballot in school board elections. This May and November, that will start to change.

That’s because the Legislature last year voted to require school districts to choose between holding elections to coincide either with the May primaries or the November general elections. Because of that, school board candidates are filing for office now alongside candidates in other races.

Previously, school elections were in September, when few voters were interested or often even realized elections were occurring.

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Let 16-year-olds vote so they can defend themselves – against us

vote, Mark Moore, 16-year-oldsThe legal voting age since 1971 has been 18. Maybe that should be the maximum instead of the minimum, at least for a few election cycles.

I write that at age 48 after observing young people lately interact with the world created by supposedly responsible voting-age adults.

Exhibit A is the students at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who escaped from a mass killer while 17 of their classmates and educators didn’t. The killer, a clearly troubled 19-year-old, had purchased his military-style weapon almost as easily as he later purchased a drink at Subway after his rampage ended.

We adults refuse to do much about this. So the students are. Continue reading →

A blue wave is coming. How big, and how wet will Arkansas get?

Alabama, blue waveHistory – both the recent and not-so-recent kinds – suggests a blue wave is coming. The only questions for this column are, how big will it be, and how wet will Arkansas get?

The recent kind of history is that, since President Trump was elected, Democrats nationwide have flipped 35 state legislative seats that were occupied by Republicans. In contrast, Republicans have flipped four seats that were occupied by Democrats.

The latest occurred Tuesday in Missouri, where a 27-year-old Democrat, Mike Revis, was elected in a district outside St. Louis that Trump won by 28 points in 2016. Revis defeated a pro-life, pro-gun Republican.

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Mark Moore’s law

vote, Mark MooreWant to run for office as an independent – not as a Republican, Democrat or anything else? Thanks to Mark Moore, you’ve just been given two more months to submit your signatures.

Moore, of Pea Ridge, won a lawsuit Jan. 25 where U.S. District Judge James Moody declared the state’s March 1 deadline for independent candidates unconstitutional and issued an injunction on Moore’s behalf.

Moore had sued the state in 2014 because he wanted to run for lieutenant governor as an independent. He believed the law was stacked in favor of Republicans and Democrats. Under current law, independent candidates must collect signatures over 90 days and submit them to the secretary of state’s office by March 1, the end of the candidate filing period. Republicans and Democrats must submit party filing fees by that date but won’t hold their primary elections until May 22.  Continue reading →