Correction: This article about registering to vote before the May 20 election in Arkansas misstated which convicted felons are allowed to vote. A felon also is eligible to register to vote, even if he has not been pardoned, if he provides proof that he has completed his sentence, has been “discharged from probation or parole” and has paid “all applicable court costs, fines, or restitution.”
Today is the last day to register to vote in the May 20 preferential primary and nonpartisan judicial elections.
In addition to primary races, voters will elect three state Supreme Court justices, five Court of Appeals judges and dozens of circuit and district judges.
The number of registered voters as of Friday afternoon was 1,619,425, up from 1,538,619 at the same time in 2012 and 1,616,143 in 2010, according to information provided by the secretary of state’s office.
There are 2,959,373 people living in the state, according to 2013 Census estimates.
In Arkansas, voters can list their party affiliation on their voter-registration form, but it’s optional and most people leave it blank.
Of the 1,619,425 people registered to vote so far in this year’s elections, 70,015 identified as Democrats, 59,049 as Republicans, 125 as Libertarians and 19 as Greens, said Alex Reed, a spokesman for Secretary of State Mark Martin. The state’s “open primary system” allows voters to vote in either party’s preferential primary, but it requires a person to vote in the same party’s runoff primary.
Reed said voters can visit the secretary of state’s website at http://www.votenaturally.org to get an application to register to vote and verify registration information.
To register, voters must be at least 18 years old on or before the election, a U.S. citizen and an Arkansas resident living in the state for at least 30 days before the election. Mentally incompetent people and convicted felons who have not been pardoned are prohibited from voting, according to the secretary of state’s office.
When registering to vote for the first time, applicants must provide a current and valid photo identification or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check or paycheck that shows the applicants name and address, or some other government document that shows the applicant’s name and address, according to the secretary of state’s office.
Voter-registration applications are also available at state revenue and county clerks’ offices, public libraries and many public-assistance agencies. Applications may be postmarked as late as today to be included on the rolls for the May 20 elections.
Additional information about the voting process is available on the secretary of state’s website at http://www.sos.arkansas.gov/elections.
Patrick Burgwinkle, a spokesman for the Democratic Party of Arkansas, said the party is continuing to work to register voters “because when more Arkansans participate in the electoral process, Democrats win.”
“This election is about which party has a vision for Arkansas’ economic security, and Democrats are fighting to improve education, protect Medicare and Social Security and continue Governor Beebe’s fiscally responsible leadership,”Burgwinkle said.
Megan Tollett, the executive director of the Republican Party of Arkansas, said it has focused on voter-registration efforts at the state and county level, with an emphasis on people who have recently moved into the state. She said she expects higher numbers of Republicans voting in this year’s primaries because of the efforts.
“We’ve tried to just make a big push for this,” Tollett said.
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 04/21/2014