Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Election Administration Takeover topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
'Election Integrity' takeover proposal draws sharp testimony from clerks, judges and advocates and fails in committee
Summary
A proposed statute that would allow the State Board of Election Commissioners to assume temporary control of county election administration in documented emergency circumstances failed after lengthy testimony from local officials warning the measure risks overreach and could impose costs on counties.
Senator Mark Johnson presented a comprehensive bill to create a multi-step remedial process for counties with severe election-administration failures. The proposal would require the county board of election commissioners to document problems, seek remediation from the county judge and quorum court, and—if issues remained—ask the State Board of Election Commissioners to investigate and, where necessary within the statutory election window, appoint a state coordinator to temporarily assume administrative control.
Sponsors described the bill as a limited "fire-extinguisher" remedy for rare, extreme situations in large counties where local officials allegedly impeded election administration. Senator Johnson said the measure only applies to counties with populations of 50,000 or greater and emphasized the bill contains multiple notice and due-process steps before any state action.
Pulaski County officials and witnesses recounted events from the 2020 cycle that they said motivated the proposal: locked offices, withdrawn access to networks and instances of ballots and equipment improperly stored or discovered after Election Day. Christy Starr, Pulaski County election commission chairwoman, summarized depositions and public records testifying to missing or insecure ballot boxes, mapping errors and other irregularities.
Opponents included the County Judges Association and the County Clerks Association. Lonoke County Judge Doug Irwin told the committee 75 county judges oppose the bill and raised constitutional and fiscal concerns, calling the measure an overreach that would risk swapping local control for state-directed expenditures. Melanie Winkler, representing the County Clerk's Association, said the bill could empower election commissioners at the expense of elected county officials and noted the practical difficulty of invoking the remedial process quickly in an active election.
Sponsors and legal advisers pointed to prior state-case law holding that election commissions have certain powers and that the bill creates a statutory mechanism to remedy situations without costly federal litigation. AJ Kelly, an attorney advising sponsors, said the legislation formalizes a process for when local remedies are exhausted.
After extended questioning and competing testimony from county officials and sponsors, the committee voted; the motion to pass failed. Senators later approved a motion to expunge the failing vote from the record.
