ELECT

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in multiple counties, then that’s a systematic procedure issue,” Madison said. “If we’ve got a trap for them, we’ve got to fix the trap.”

While discussing complaints, Madison also referenced instances where residents who were not registered to vote filed provisional ballots that were counted in the electronic DS200 tabulator.

“I want to refer each of those cases to law enforcement because an unregistered person voted illegally,” he said.

“They were not registered to vote, they shouldn’t have voted.”

Commissioner Sharon Brooks said that the SBEC will have hundreds of these instances, but Madison told reporters after the meeting that he knew of an estimated 20 cases across the state.

When asked if Madison would support a policy that allowed residents to register to vote on Election Day, he said the thought “gives me absolute heartburn” because of the required paperwork and Arkansas’ rural connectivity issues.

Random election audits

The SBEC on Wednesday also randomly selected the next round of counties to have their election audited.

In addition to a selection of counties from each of the state’s congressional districts and counties with more than 100,000 residents, members also created a category of counties that didn’t receive a 100% score on their previous audit.

Searcy County, the only location in Arkansas to hand count ballots during the 2024 primary and general elections, was chosen for the latter category. It was also the only county to have less than a 100% score on its previous audit.

Other counties to be audited include Benton, Faulkner, Marion, Lawrence, Izard, Mississippi, Poinsett, Van Buren, White, Crawford, Logan, Hot Spring, Newton, Howard and Pike.

Legislative goals

The Arkansas Legislature will convene in January, and Madison outlined 10 proposals he hoped to present for the upcoming session.

Among those was a law to require identification cards for people assisting voters, an extension to the election complaint file period, a requirement that any county with less than 100% accuracy on its audit be audited in the next election and an increase to the number of nursing home employees assisting residents while voting from one to two.

No draft legislation stemming from the SBEC has been filed at this time.

While the SBEC was meeting Wednesday, Rep. David Whitaker, D-Fayetteville, filed a bill that would allow Arkansans who are aged 65 or older to vote with an absentee ballot.

Madison said the current system allows any resident to obtain an absentee ballot if they select they will be “unavoidably absent” on Election Day.