CRAWFORD COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — Last week there was a programming error with the voting machines in Crawford County that caused some voters not to be able to vote in several races. The election commission is now allowing those voters to come back and vote in those races.
The error was brought to the commission’s attention almost three days into early voting, and the problem was immediately fixed. Some voters were given the wrong ballots because of a programming issue. Voters like Billy Teague were disappointed. He received a letter from the commission this week that said he could go back and cast a paper ballot for those missed races.
“I’m glad they were able to come to terms with it and figure out a way to get it done because I was told there was just no way to do it at all, so I’m very happy they decided to do the right thing,” Teague said.
Chairman of the Crawford County Election Commission, Bill Coleman, says the programming error affected 90 people. Coleman says six of those voters didn’t get to vote for Congressional District 3, House District 80, and a Justice of the Peace race.
“We were able to identify them through our programming to figure out exactly who had not been able to vote, sent those letters out to them, and we are asking them to bring that letter in,” he said.
The race that was impacted the most was the Cedarville de-annexation, where 84 people didn’t get to vote in the race. The city wants to de-annex Mill Pond Road on the edge of town because its budget is tight. If voters pass it, Crawford County will take over maintaining the road.
Cedarville Alderman Tim Breshears says they are pleased more than 80 voters can come back to the polls.
“That’s probably 10% of the voting going on in Cedarville. I’m glad they reconsidered and let those people vote, and that way they can have their vote cast,” he said.
And while the Cedarville race isn’t controversial, Coleman says it could be if it came down to a 50-vote difference.
“Then someone could object to it and create having to have a special election for it again. So, we just wanted to take all opportunity to avoid that and to give the people the opportunity to vote,” he said.
28 people voted in races they should not have. The election commission says they have those ballots isolated, and if any of those races are close, they can go back through and subtract those votes.
If you received a letter in the mail from the election commission, you are asked to bring it to the emergency operations center in Van Buren if you plan to early vote or on election day or Cedarville First Baptist Church on election day, and you will receive a paper ballot with those missing races.