Arkansas panel OKs ban on absentee vote 'harvesting'

By The Associated Press

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LITTLE ROCK — A Senate panel advanced legislation Thursday aimed at preventing so-called absentee vote "harvesting," or possessing more than 10 absentee ballots that were issued to another person.

The proposal, and another measure to clarify the Legislature's power to issue subpoenas, head to the Senate for a vote in response to hearings the chamber held last year over charges of voter fraud in a lawmaker's victory in a 2006 runoff election.

Sen. Steve Faris said the new absentee voting restrictions would prevent people from "harvesting," or collecting large numbers of ballots, to commit voter fraud. Faris' proposal says that the possession by a person of more than 10 absentee ballots "creates a rebuttable presumption of intent to defraud."

Faris, the chairman of the Senate's State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee, said he wanted the new restrictions in response to the hearings his panel held over the contested election of Sen. Jack Crumbly, D-Widener. The Senate voted in June to allow Crumbly to keep his seat, but called on state and federal authorities to investigate claims of voter fraud and irregularities in the June 13, 2006, Democratic runoff for an eastern Arkansas district.

Crumbly won the Senate District 16 seat by 68 votes. Arnell Willis was initially declared the winner but Crumbly was declared the victor after a recount. Crumbly did not face a Republican opponent in the fall of 2006.

The report issued by the legislative panel said there was no evidence that Crumbly was involved in any alleged fraud in the runoff election.

The bill was advanced days after a St. Francis County judge declined a prosecutor's request to bring charges in a voting-fraud investigation of a 2008 election. Circuit Judge Richard Proctor filed an order Tuesday saying that the alleged activities didn't show a violation of absentee voting procedures.

Proctor said the Legislature needs to provide clear penalties in the law for violating the procedures. Special Prosecutor H.G. Foster told the panel he believed that Faris' bill would close a loophole in the law on absentee ballots.

"It was clear to me that the law intended to limit the number of people who can have absentee ballots," Foster said.

Arkansas State Police seized 82 absentee ballots for the November election as part of an investigation that started after Crumbly's victory in the 2006 runoff election.

Faris' other measure would also clarify the Legislature's power to issue subpoenas. If someone fails to appear or produce subpoenaed material, they could be held in contempt by a circuit court under the proposal.

Faris said the measure doesn't grant the Legislature any new powers, but clarifies that it can demand witnesses or information for investigations. Faris said the panel faced problems during the Crumbly hearing because of the way the law is currently written.

"There weren't any clear regulations or guidelines on how to do it, so when we tried to subpoena some of the information from some of the county clerks, we were really not greeted with a hearty 'Sure, we'd like to participate,"' Faris said after the hearing.