Faulkner County election commission draws ballot positions for multiple contests

Faulkner County’s Election Commission conducted a public ballot-position draw this afternoon to assign the order of candidates on the upcoming election ballot. Chairman Aaron Dixon opened the session and said the commission would start with federal and state offices, then proceed to county and school contests. The commission approved the previous meeting’s minutes before beginning the draw.

The commission used a box of seven numbered Christmas ornaments (numbers 1–7) as a randomization method. Candidates or their representatives were invited to draw; when no representative was present the commission allowed volunteers to draw on a candidate’s behalf. The clerk recorded each number and read the resulting ballot order aloud for the record.

Notable assignments recorded in the meeting included Mayor Ethan Dunbar drawing position 1 (a volunteer drew on his behalf). For U.S. Senate, the clerk recorded Senator Tom Cotton receiving number 1. In U.S. House District 2, Zach Huffman drew the number that will place him first on the ballot and Chris Jones was recorded as second. In the separate U.S. House contest listed, Chase McDowell was recorded as position 1 and Congressman French Hill as position 2.

Local contests were completed before the draw closed. The Conway School District Zone 3 race — a four-candidate contest — was recorded in final order as: Tyler Moses first, Brent Lewitt second, Emily Railsback third and Shannon Knudsen fourth.

The clerk and chair handled several list-order clarifications on the record when the oral readback did not initially match the commission’s paperwork; the commission reconciled those differences during the meeting. Apart from the ballot draws, the only formal recorded action in the transcript was the approval of the previous meeting minutes (motion made and approved by voice; mover/second not specified in the record).

The commission closed the drawing portion of the meeting and continued with its remaining agenda items; members of the public were welcome to stay.

Why this matters: Ballot position can affect voter behavior and campaign strategy; the commission’s public draw establishes the official order that will appear on printed ballots.

What the transcript does not specify: exact written vote tallies or named movers/seconders for the minutes approval; in a handful of cases candidate names were spoken unclearly in the transcript and the clerk recorded numbers that the commission reconciled on the record (those names are reproduced as spoken in the meeting record).