Faulkner County Judge Alan Dodson reads preliminary election-night tallies; several races remain close

Faulkner County Judge Alan Dodson opened the county’s election-night canvass and read a running series of preliminary tallies from early, absentee and vote-center returns, stressing the numbers were interim and that a small number of centers had yet to report. He thanked the county’s election commission, election coordinator, county clerk and poll workers for their work during the count.

Dodson read 'fresh off the printer' totals for statewide and local contests, including U.S. Senate, U.S. House District 2, Secretary of State, Commissioner of State Lands, state representative contests, judicial races and multiple school-district mill and board contests. He repeatedly noted these were partial totals while more vote-center returns were still pending and flagged several contests with very narrow margins in the early/absentee returns.

The judge reported early-vote totals (an early figure cited was 7,865 early votes) and discussed turnout percentages during the session. He and staff clarified that reported batches at different points included various combinations of early votes, absentee (nonprovisional) ballots and returns from specific vote centers (examples named on the livestream included Mayflower, Mount Gale, UCA Community Center and Naylor vote centers). Dodson emphasized that totals would be updated as remaining centers reported.

Among the contests Dodson read aloud, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tom Cotton was reported with the largest Republican total; French Hill and Kim Hammer were also read as leading in their respective contests on the Republican side. On the Democratic side, judges and judicial contests (including State Supreme Court Associate Justice Position 3 tallies recited by Dodson) and other county judicial totals were read as preliminary counts. Dodson also read local results and school-district tallies; he noted City of Greenbar ballot measures appeared to pass based on the totals announced that night.

Attendees asked procedural questions during the reading: one participant asked for a paper copy of the interim report, and staff directed members of the public to an online results page (announced on the livestream as votefaulkner.gov). Throughout the session, Dodson reiterated that the figures were partial and that final results would depend on additional precinct and vote-center returns and the county's official canvass.

The canvass concluded with Dodson offering final tallies for the night (with exceptions noted for a small number of outstanding centers), thanking staff and volunteers and closing the livestream. The county judge framed the night as a demonstration of local election administration and urged appreciation for those who run the process.