LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — Early voting in Garland County, Arkansas was temporarily halted Monday (Oct. 22) after officials found a democratic candidate for Arkansas Secretary of State had been left off the ballot, our CNN affiliate KATV out of Little Rock reports.
Democratic Secretary of State candidate Susan Inman was left off the ballot, KATV says. The Garland County Election Commission reported to KATV that 222 votes were cast before the error was caught and polls were closed for up to an hour while officials fixed the electronic ballot.
Early voting in Garland County has since been resumed, according to KATV.
According to the Arkansas Secretary of State’s office, Garland County programmed its own electronic ballots and was able to quickly fix the problem.
Susan Inman is running against Republican John Thurston, the Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands, and Libertarian Christopher Olson. The three are running to replace Secretary of State Mark Martin.
The Democratic Party of Arkansas released the following statement regarding the ballot issues in Garland County:
“The Democratic Party of Arkansas supports the formal complaints filed by our Legal Counsel Chris Burks. We again call on the State of Arkansas to properly train, support, and fund our local election commissions who organize elections. Unfunded mandates from the State continue to result in major problems like we saw today in Garland County.
“This is exactly why Susan Inman should be elected as Arkansas’s next Secretary of State. As the former Director of State Elections, she has already done this work, unlike her Republican challenger John Thurston.
“If voters encounter any issues at the polls or with their ballots, please call the Democratic Party of Arkansas’s Voter Protection hotline at 501-246-0060. We have a team of experienced attorneys working to quickly resolve any issues that arise.”
