Arkansas
Ballot Security
What Politicians Say
Voters in the state who show up at their polling place without a photo ID will now need to make a second trip to the elections office.Previously, voters who forgot their ID were able to sign a sworn statement to have their ballot counted.
But since a 2021 law was enacted, voters now have to cast a provisional ballot and return to the elections office within a week to show photo ID in order to have it counted.
Nationally, as many as 3 in 10 provisional ballots are not counted, in part because voters often fail to make the second trip.
Ease of Voting
A 2021 law bars local elections administrators from changing the location of a polling place within 30 days of an election.
According to statistics from University of Florida political science professor Michael McDonald, the state’s turnout rate among all people eligible to vote was the second lowest in the country in 2020.
The state also had the second-highest rate of rejection for mail-in ballots in the country in 2020.
Ballot Security
Lawmakers also barred local elections administrators from sending mail-in ballot applications to voters who have not requested them, expanded the powers of the state elections board to investigate complaints, required that voting machines not be connected to the internet, and created a hotline to report suspected violations of election law.
How Politicians Responded to the 2020 Election
Attorney General Leslie Rutledge supported a Texas lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to intervene in the election.
One of Arkansas’ four Republican US representatives objected to the certification of Biden electors from Arizona and Pennsylvania. Two signed an amicus brief in support of the Texas lawsuit.