Pulaski County mailed 56,697 cards on Friday to remind people who did not participate in the past election to update their voting information.
The effort is in compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which also allows people to register to vote while obtaining driver’s licenses.
The county clerk’s office sent 52,697 cards to people who didn’t participate or update their information during the previous election and 4,000 cards to people who haven’t updated their voting information since 2012, letting them know that they need to respond to the notice or their registrations will be canceled, County Circuit Clerk Terri Hollingsworth said.
“This is not junk mail; please do not throw it away,” Hollingsworth said at a news conference to help spread the word about the effort.
Although in the past 10% of people who received notices responded, Hollingsworth said she hopes that with increased awareness she can raise that rate to half.
In 2017, the office sent out 36,581 notices. In 2015, it sent 67,644. The law requires the county to send notices every two years.
Spokesman Mariah Hat-ta said 135,549 people, about 55% of the registered voters at that time, voted in the 2018 election and 128,291 people, about 53% of registered voters at that time, cast ballots in 2014. Those are the two most recent election years in which a governor’s race was on the ballot.
Pulaski County sends out the most notices, but the law requires all counties to do so.
Craighead County sent out 16,418 cards confirming voter information and 5,011 cards letting people know their registrations would be canceled if they did not contact the office, Deputy Clerk Lesli Penny said.
Penny said her county holds registration drives, which become more frequent during election years.
“It happens ongoing, but some seasons are heavier than others,” Penny said about voter outreach.
Washington County sent out 34,570 confirmation notices and 7,440 cancellation notices, County Clerk Becky Lewallen said.
Miller County Deputy Clerk Tonya Bohn sent out about 6,000 confirmation cards. The county has yet to send out its cancellation cards because officials are waiting until after the May 21 School Board election.
Mireya Reich, with the Arkansas United Community Coalition, which focuses on improving voter education for immigrants, said that although county clerks readily supply voting information and help when asked, they do not intentionally reach out to immigrants, particularly Asians and Hispanics.
“What we’re f inding throughout the state of Arkansas is that lack of proactiveness,” Reich said.
The organization has more than doubled the number of Asian and Hispanic voters in Arkansas through initiating efforts to reach these people, Reich said. In this year’s legislative session, the group helped bolster bills that benefited immigrants.
Reich said it’s particularly important to inform people who are new to Arkansas and the nation about voting.
When working with the county clerks, “it’s very much us requesting and asking for that specialized assistance,” she said.
She said political parties and organizations like hers have stepped up where county clerks have failed, reaching out to immigrants who need more information about voting. Among the counties, Washington County is the best about remembering the Hispanic and Asian communities, Reich said.
Hollingsworth said that as part of her election campaign last year, she included increased community outreach to inform people about voter registration.
“Voting and voter registration are very near and dear to my heart,” she said.
Hollingsworth took office Jan. 1 and is the first black woman elected to a county-wide position in Pulaski County. She said past clerks have not held a news conference about the notices, but she hopes that by spreading the word she can increase the number of county voters.
As of Thursday evening, Hatta said, the clerk’s office had received 2,182 responses to the notices.
She said the office is looking into additional avenues — including electronically and through social media — to reach eligible voters.
As an additional part of Hollingsworth’s outreach efforts, she said her team has attended community events to inform people about voting and she’s worked with people who have been convicted of felonies on possibly expunging their records.
The county clerk’s office has nearly 100 employees in 10 departments, ranging from real estate to voter registration.