Early voting is underway in Arkansas through May 24. Central Arkansas community organizations have put together a nonpartisan voter guide for Pulaski County, focusing on judicial races.
The voter guide includes information about candidates running for Arkansas Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Circuit Court, prosecuting attorney, and county sheriff.
Candidates responded to provided questions that aim to help illustrate how they may interpret different laws upon being elected.
Indivisible Little Rock and Central Arkansas’ Lead Organizer Loriee Evans said it’s critical for voters to have the opportunity to make informed decisions about judicial positions.
“If you’re ever in court, it’s probably the most important day of your life,” said Evans. “You want to know that the person sitting behind the bench is fair and impartial. These judges, they decide family law, divorce law, environmental laws in our local communities.”
The voter guide is a collaboration between Indivisible, Arkansas Community Organizations, the League of Women Voters of Pulaski County, local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People branches, the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, and others.
Arkansas is an open primary state, meaning residents are not required to be registered as Democrats or Republicans to vote.
Arkansas ranked last in the nation for voter turnout during the 2020 presidential election, according to the US Election Assistance Commission.
Evans said it’s important for Arkansans to vote in the primary because it decides which candidate represents each party in the November General Election.
“Would you rather have someone who’s representing your party who can work across the aisle,” said Evans, “who can find compromise, because that’s how we actually make laws and progress forward, rather than elect a lot of folks who only represent a handful of voters? “
This election, Arkansans also are voting for party nominations for both chambers of Congress, governor, state Legislature seats, and more.
Next Tuesday, May 17 is the deadline to request a mail ballot. It must be dropped off in person by May 20.
Support for this reporting was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
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Oregonians have the easiest time casting their votes in the nation, according to studies and can vote in almost any situation. Open access to the ballot will shape Tuesday’s primary and a pivotal midterm election.
State residents vote by mail, reducing many barriers people often encounter at polling places. However, it can present a challenge for people experiencing homelessness.
Molly Woon, senior adviser for the Oregon Secretary of State, Shemia Fagan, said the unhoused can use the address of the place where they spend most of their time and have their ballots held at their local county clerk’s office.
“You can use the address of a shelter, you can use the address of a park, you can use the address of really any coordinates on the map,” Woon outlined. “That’s what we will use to determine what district you live in and who you can vote for.”
Woon also noted people are able to have their personal information shielded as well, which is important for people who are involved in cases of domestic violence, for instance. Woon added they can speak to their county clerk about how to set it up.
Elona Wilson, executive director of Oregon-based Next Up, a youth-led organization which was instrumental in securing automatic voter registration in Oregon, agrees the state is easy to vote in, allowing people who are on parole or even in jail to cast their ballot.
But Wilson pointed out Oregon could go further and join Maine and Vermont, where people can vote from prison.
“I think that’s where people get it confused, is that this is punishment, and you lose your citizenship,” Wilson explained. “But that’s not the case, and if you are a citizen, based on the rules within our society and within our country, you should still have the rights of a citizen. That includes the right to vote.”
Wilson emphasized it is important to bring voting rights to Oregonians who have been left out so far.
“Breaking down those barriers and being really intentional about centering folks who have been intentionally marginalized from this vote and changing our society really is core to making our society and our democracy real,” Wilson contended.
Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.
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A coalition of community groups calling itself “Let Nevada Vote” is speaking out against a proposed ballot initiative that would require the state to adopt ranked-choice voting.
Backers of the so-called “Nevada Voters First” initiative say it’s intended to give independent voters a greater voice and produce election winners with the broadest support.
But Emily Persaud-Zamora, executive director of Silver State Voices, said she thinks ranked-choice voting would only trip voters up-and result in more invalid ballots.
“Ranked-choice voting makes casting a ballot more time consuming,” said Persaud-Zamora, “more complicated and more confusing for voters.”
With ranked-choice voting, people rank multiple candidates by preference. If anyone gets more than 50%, they win.
If not, then the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated.
And each voter who had ranked the now-eliminated candidate as their first choice has their single vote transferred to the candidate who was their next-highest choice.
Eric Jeng, director of outreach for the Asian Community Development Council, noted that New York City and San Francisco have tried ranked -choice voting – with mixed results.
“Even with these big cities devoting tremendous resources and research into how best to educate their voters,” said Jeng, “we still see a very hard, steep learning curve for them.”
And Ruben Murillo, former president of the Nevada State Education Association, said he thinks ranked-choice voting should not be enshrined in the state constitution.
“I’m opposed to this,” said Murillo, “because I don’t like putting something into the constitution that you can’t change easily.”
The initiative would also abolish partisan primaries and move to an open primary in which the top five candidates advance, regardless of party affiliation.
The initiative must get enough signatures to qualify for the ballot by June 21.
The coalition is also informing people about how to withdraw a signature from the petition, on the website – ‘protectyourvotenv.com.’
Disclosure: Silver State Voices contributes to our fund for reporting on Budget Policy & Priorities, Civic Engagement, Health Issues, Human Rights/Racial Justice. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.
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It’s been a year since Iowa adopted sweeping election law changes. For those who haven’t voted since then, local administrators say going in without a plan might bring some unwanted surprises for the June 7 primary.
Among the key changes is a shorter window for early in-person voting, which for this primary opens up on May 18.
Iowans also have less time to request and send in absentee ballots. Linn County Auditor Joel Miller said that’s why people need to be thorough in filling out an absentee ballot.
He noted that with mail service not as speedy, fixing any mistakes won’t be easy.
“Before, you used to have time to cure something,” said Miller, “we could you send you a new application to fill out – but there’s just not enough time.”
Miller said having an alternate plan can help voters overcome obstacles-including something non-election-related, such as a COVID-19 infection.
The deadline to request an absentee ballot is May 23. The new rules say it has to be received no later than the end of Election Day, rather than just being postmarked ahead of time.
Ballots received the day after won’t be counted.
Rules surrounding ballot drop boxes also were modified, and now Iowa counties are allowed to have one designated location – which has to be under video surveillance.
Louisa County Auditor Sandi Sturgell said that’s a noteworthy change for a rural area like hers, and voters should research availability.
“We are not using that any longer,” said Sturgell. “They have to bring it directly into our office, because we don’t have the security that they require for the dropbox that we had always been able to use before, that’s on the courthouse wall. So, please don’t put your ballots in there. “
In 2020, some counties used multiple drobox sites amid COVID concerns.
Brad Anderson, state director of AARP Iowa, said they hope the changes won’t deter older voters in this year’s midterms – and that they’ll see participation just as strong as the energy from two years ago.
“While some of those measures, such as every voter getting an absentee ballot request form, are not happening this cycle,” said Anderson, “we want to let voters know that they do have a lot of options.”
Beyond absentee ballots and early in-person voting at your county auditor’s office, there will still be polling sites on Election Day. However, those will now close an hour earlier, at 8 pm
Disclosure: AARP Iowa contributes to our fund for reporting on Budget Policy & Priorities, Community Issues and Volunteering, Health Issues, Senior Issues. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.
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