LITTLE ROCK — It’s been 43 days since the May 18 preferential primary election, but Secretary of State Charlie Daniels has yet to certify official results from the election.
What’s holding up the certification?
The state is waiting for certified election results on paper in the mail from one county - Clay County - state officials said Tuesday.
County election commissions are required by state law to mail certified results within 10 days after the primary, said Carder Hawkins, director of elections for the secretary of state.
Clay County’s June 4 fax of the results to the secretary of state was incomplete,he said. The county faxed complete results Thursday and mailed the certified results on paper Saturday, but they’ve yet to show up at the secretary of state’s office, he said.
Clay County Election Coordinator Joyce Kirby said late last week that she mailed them. She could not be reached for further comment Tuesday.
Reba Cauley, an election coordinator in the secretary of state’s office, informed Kirby in an e-mail June 21 that the office received the county’s certified results for the June 8 general primary, which was the runoff election, but not for the May 18 preferential primary.
“Could you resend that?You could fax us a copy ... and then mail the original,” wrote Cauley. “Thanks so much and sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.”
Clay County may be the cow’s tail this time, but it is not an habitual offender. Hawkins said the last county to send certified results on paper varies from election to election.
He said the secretary of state received the certified results on paper for the May 18 election from Searcy County on Monday.
“Our reconciliation process identified an issue with their results, so we contacted the county to amend their certification,” which it did, he explained.
Hawkins said it’s not uncommon for a county to be late in mailing the certification of results.
And, he said, the explanations generally boil down to fairly typical human missteps:
Forgetting to mail it.
Mistakenly mailing an outdated or incomplete version.
Waiting on a recount.
The absence of election commission members needed for a meeting.
A new coordinator being unfamiliar with the rules.
The recent history of certification is that it happened 55 days after the 2008 primary, 44 days after the 2006 primary, and 45 days after the 2004 primary, according to Hawkins.
In a move aimed at getting counties to comply with deadlines for other reports, the state Board of Election Commissions last month adopted a policy to withhold state reimbursement for election expenses from counties that file late.
The board will withhold all reimbursement from those that file more than 75 days after an election and half from counties that file 45 to 75 days after. It has authority to withhold it permanently.
For the primary election, this means that the board will withhold half of the funding for counties filing reports from July 2-Aug. 2 and will permanently withhold funding for counties filing reports after Aug. 2, said Susie Stormes, director of the state Board of Election Commissions.
The policy covers state funded elections such as primaries and runoffs.
It relates to only two reports:
A written ballot-count report that the county election commissions are required to file with the state within 10 days after state and federal elections.
A statement of compliance that each county election commissioner is required to file within 15 days after certain elections.
For the May 18 primary election, the board has yet to receive signed statements of compliance from Cross County Election Commissioner Joline Norris or Lonoke County Election Commissioner Helen Lueck, said Stormes.
For the June 8 runoff, the office is still waiting for certified results on paper from Boone, Independence, Miller and White counties, Hawkins said.
Under state law, county election commissions are required to mail in the certified election results on paper from runoff elections within 15 days after the election, he said.
Stormes said the board has yet to receive ballot count reports for the runoff from Cleburne, Jackson, and Marion counties.
She said the board’s new policy has prompted counties to file election reports quicker than usual.
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 06/30/2010