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Committee approves broad absentee-ballot and election-integrity package after extended debate
Summary
The committee passed HB1715, a package of absentee-ballot and election-administration changes including tighter signature-comparison rules for applications, daily absentee counts, new conditional warnings and expanded State Board enforcement powers; county election officials warned of operational burdens if inner envelopes cannot be opened before election day.
Representative Lowry presented House Bill 1715, the Arkansas Balancing Integrity Act, as a comprehensive set of changes designed to increase transparency and uniformity in absentee voting and to give the State Board of Election Commissioners additional corrective tools.
Key provisions include tightening possession thresholds (reducing the rebuttable-presumption threshold for bulk ballot possession from 10 to 4), requiring county reports and daily counts of absentee applications and ballots, establishing a uniform voter statement for all counties, clarifying inner-envelope handling (inner envelopes may not…
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