Thousands of Arkansans are casting ballots early for a runoff election that’s been dominated by the fight for the Democratic Senate nomination.
Tuesday marked the start of early voting for the June 8 party primary runoff elections. The Arkansas secretary of state’s office said late Tuesday afternoon that 9,406 people had voted in the election on the first day to cast ballots.
Election officials said that 604 absentee ballots had been received.
Attention during the runoff campaign has been focused on the battle between Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Lt. Gov. Bill Halter for the Democratic nomination. The winner of that election will face Republican Congressman John Boozman in the general election.
Twenty-nine percent of the state’s 1.6 million registered voters cast a ballot in the May 18 primaries. Secretary of State Charlie Daniels has not predicted how many voters will cast a ballot in the runoff election.