Electronic ballot clips two candidates' titles in Pulaski County

Two candidates' names were improperly cut short on the electronic ballots used during the first week of early voting in Pulaski County for the partisan primary and nonpartisan judicial elections.

Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Courtney Goodson's name appeared on the ballot as "State Supreme Court Justice Courtney G..." Goodson is running for re-election to her associate justice seat.

Secretary of state candidate John Thurston's name appeared as "John Thurston Commissioner of State La..." Thurston is currently the state land commissioner.

Early voting began Monday.

The errors were caused by a coding issue, said Bryan Poe, the Pulaski County Election Commission's director of elections. He expects the issue to be rectified today.

Poe noted that the names appear correctly on the paper ballots, which will be used on election day -- May 22. The county uses electronic ballots for early voting.

Pulaski County is the state's largest county, and it's home to 243,044 registered voters, according to the Pulaski County clerk's office. As of Friday afternoon, 4,763 voters had cast early ballots.

State law allows county election officials to abbreviate a candidate's title if it won't fit on the ballot, but a county election commission "shall immediately notify a candidate whose requested title is abbreviated," the law states.

Thurston, an East End Republican, wasn't notified of the change beforehand.

"I have worked hard to earn the title of Commissioner of State Lands, which is what was supposed to be on the ballot," Thurston said on Friday. "This is more of an embarrassment to Pulaski County than it is to me, because residents of Pulaski County deserve to know who is running to represent them."

Goodson's campaign manager, Linda Napper, said they too weren't aware of the issue until Friday afternoon.

"We are sorry this error was made, but we are confident the Election Commission will rectify it as soon as possible," Napper said in an email.

Daniel Shults, an attorney for the Arkansas Board of Election Commissioners, said the state board learned of the error on Friday as well. Shults said he wasn't aware of the candidates' names being shortened anywhere else in the state. Votes cast in Pulaski County this week will still be counted, he said.

Goodson faces two challengers -- David Sterling, an attorney at the Arkansas Department of Human Services, and state Court of Appeals Judge Kenneth Hixson.

Thurston is facing state Rep. Trevor Drown in the GOP primary for secretary of state.

Both Goodson's and Thurston's opponents' names appeared in their entirety.

Thurston noted that the secretary of state chairs the state Board of Election Commissioners, and that, if elected, he'd ensure elections are "fair, unbiased and without error."

"Elections are the foundation of our republic and this is the one thing that government has to get right," he said.

Metro on 05/12/2018

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