For AR People, the grassroots group that worked on behalf of full election participation this year dug up some interesting information in reviewing absentee ballots that were disqualified from counting in Pulaski County.
The victims included Anna Cotton, wife of Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton. Their residence for voting purposes is a condo in downtown Little Rock, just a few blocks from the county courthouse.
She did not make the trip to Arkansas to vote, but sent an absentee ballot to the clerk by “designated bearer.” It wound up not being counted.
A spreadsheet kept by the Pulaski County election office reveals Anna Cotton’s ballot was disqualified for “designated bearer information missing.” That means that Anna Cotton opted to have her ballot hand-delivered, and that the person who delivered it failed to include his or her printed name, signature and/or address on a voter statement that must accompany every absentee ballot.
This clerical oversight by Anna Cotton or her designated bearer puts her in good company. Of the 25,050 absentee ballots Pulaski County voters sent in by mail or by hand this election cycle, at least 1,473 never made it to the counting machine. Election officials DQ ballots for lots of reasons, including missing signatures, no photocopy of ID and no completed red voter statement mailed in along with the ballot. A surprising number of voters mistakenly wrote that day’s date rather than his or her birthdate on one particular section of the voter statement, rendering the ballots disqualified.
Voting absentee is a tricky business. I’m afraid to check the spreadsheet for fear I might learn I fell short in some fashion. I particularly feared the signature match between my absentee ballot application and the voter information form I returned with the ballot.
For AR People noted that Ben Hussman, wife of the publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Walter Hussman, also initially had a ballot set aside over a designated bearer question, but apparently, the ballot was eventually counted.
It was, we hope, a unique election with enormous absentees thanks to the pandemic.
But For AR People makes the point that the voting procedures need improvement.
Voting should be easier, not harder. The Republican Party seems to favor harder, however, and they’ll be making calls on election law changes. Ballots set aside with questions should have been checked before election day in Pulaski County, for one thing.
Concludes For AR People:
The silver lining from Pulaski County’s 2020 stormy vote count may be new laws so fewer voters find their ballots disqualified on the next go-round. Ideas so far include making it possible for people to correct minor errors on their voter statements so their votes can count. Right now Arkansas law offers no “cure” option except to voters who forgot to both include a photocopy of ID and sign the optional voter identity verification. Allowing people to register to vote wholly online, without having to mail in physical applications, would make another sweet perk for the 2021 session. And why not make absentee ballot applications and voter statements easier to fill out correctly, so that senators’ spouses can vote, too?