The 2.28% have spoken

The official in charge of Arkansas’ elections probably was elected Tuesday by a little more than 2.28% of the state’s registered voters.

State Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, narrowly defeated Bryan Norris in the Republican primary runoff for secretary of state. The vote was 50.57% to 49.43%, with Hammer receiving 40,920 votes and Norris receiving 40,002.

Hammer and Norris made the March 31 runoff after placing in the top two in the three-candidate primary March 3.

Hammer advances to the November general election, where he will face Democrat Kelly Grappe and Libertarian Michael Pakko. He will be a heavy favorite because he’s the Republican nominee in a Republican state. 

Statewide, 5.13% of the state’s almost 1.8 million registered voters cast ballots in either the Republican or Democratic runoffs.

Voter turnout in the March 3 primaries was much higher – 24.25% between the two parties. Even higher percentages vote in November general elections: 65% in the 2024 presidential election and about 51% in 2022.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates Arkansas’ population was a little more than 3.1 million as of last July 1. Hammer’s 40,920 votes means that 1.3% of the state’s total population voted for him. Continue reading →

GOP no’s on Sanders pick show prison uphill battle

Something noteworthy happened March 20: Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ appointment to the state Board of Corrections came up for a Senate confirmation, and eight Republicans voted no.

That vote further illustrates the challenges Sanders will have in building her proposed prison in Franklin County.

The 19-11 vote was about the appointment of Jamie Barker, a former Sanders deputy chief of staff and now a lobbyist, to the board that governs the state’s prisons.

Barker had already been serving on the seven-member board. In fact, he had been elected chairman 4-3 with the support of the three other Sanders appointees. The three appointed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson voted against his chairmanship. 

His appointment required 18 Senate votes for him to remain. If it had failed this time, it could have come up for another vote when some of the five absent senators were present. Continue reading →

Carlton Wing: State’s break with PBS paused, but still could happen

Arkansas TV’s split from PBS is on pause, but the relationship is hardly on solid ground, and it may take a major donor to save it.  

That’s the situation after the Arkansas PBS Commission voted March 12 to take a 180-day pause from its previous decision December 11 to disaffiliate from PBS.

PBS provides more than half the station’s programming. Disaffiliation would mean the station would no longer broadcast “Sesame Street” or “Masterpiece Theater.”

That first disaffiliation decision in December resulted in a public backlash and an overflow crowd at the March 12 commission meeting. Former Arkansas first ladies Gay White and Barbara Pryor co-chaired a group opposing the breakup.  Continue reading →

Is SAVE America Act worth all the trouble?

vote, Mark Moore, 16-year-olds, Arkansas, primaries, Goodson, photo ID, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, SAVE America ActMost Americans agree with requiring voters to present an ID at the ballot box. It’s already the law in Arkansas. Should it be a federal law, and should the government also require people to present a birth certificate or a passport in order to register to vote?

Those questions arise as Republicans in Congress, under President Trump’s leadership, seek to pass the SAVE America Act.

The bill would require voters to present a photo ID when voting in federal elections and to provide documentary proof of citizenship – generally a passport or birth certificate – when registering. 

The House of Representatives passed the bill, 218-213, with one Democrat voting with Republicans. All four members of Arkansas’ congressional delegation voted for it. It’s now in the Senate, where Arkansas Sens. Tom Cotton and John Boozman are co-sponsors.  Continue reading →

Ten Commandments ruling put schools between rock and hard place

Ten Commandments BrooksWhat do you do when you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place? Two Arkansas higher education institutions are choosing the rock. All but six public schools will have to make their own decisions. 

The rock is the law plus the lawsuit that could come as a result of obeying it. Act 573, passed last year, says every public school district and higher education institution must conspicuously post the Ten Commandments in every classroom and library. The law specifies that the posting must be the Protestant King James Version displayed on a 16-inch-by-20-inch poster or framed copy. The Commandments must be provided through private donations; otherwise, schools don’t have to post them. 

The hard place is a federal judge’s ruling this week that states that the law is unconstitutional, but only directly applies to six K-12 public schools. The limit exists because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year stating that judges cannot issue “universal injunctions” that reach beyond the parties in a case.

In other words, schools and colleges can obey the law and potentially get named in a lawsuit. Or they can disobey the law and, perhaps, face legal consequences for that. Continue reading →