Two bills that would increase the authority of the state election board and of county election boards advanced from the Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs on Tuesday.
Senate Bill 498 by Sen. Mark Johnson, R-Ferndale, would require that complaints made to county election boards about alleged election law violations or irregularities be sent to the state Board of Election Commissioners for evaluation, rather than to the county clerk and prosecuting attorney.
"They are the appropriate ones and since the county clerk and the prosecuting attorney are actually elected officials they have potential conflicts of interest in doing so," Johnson said.
A committee member, Sen. Clarke Tucker, D-Little Rock, said that, as with other election bills under consideration this legislative session, he was concerned that elected officials, who are accountable directly to voters, were being removed from the complaint process.
