Despite Thursday’s near-constant rainfall in East Arkansas, rural Delta counties’ few early voting locations were almost never empty.
Residents of Crittenden, Lee and Phillips counties showed up to make their voices heard in next week’s local, state and federal elections. Lee and Phillips counties have one early voting site each, at their respective county courthouses.
Crittenden County has three early voting locations after the Arkansas Supreme Court ended a dispute between voters and local officials by ordering that early voting must occur at two West Memphis churches. The third site is in Marion, the county seat.
One of the two churches, the Seventh Street Church of Christ, saw about 90 early voters between 4:30 and 6 p.m. Wednesday, poll worker Gwen Freeman said Thursday morning.
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Unlike in a few North Arkansas counties, voters in the Delta haven’t been expressing doubt about the security of the machines they use to vote, according to poll workers in all three Delta counties, including Freeman.
When voters have questions for poll workers, they’re often about judicial candidates or proposed state constitutional amendments, first-time poll worker Lawrence Carter said.
“They have a lot of questions about the Supreme Court nominees because they really don’t know who they are,” Carter said. “…Most people vote [entirely] Democrat or Republican, but they can’t because the Supreme Court is neither one of those.”
First-time voters — some of whom are older rather than newly eligible young people — also tend to have questions about how to use the voting machines, Carter said.
Poll workers in Lee County said they’ve gotten some of the same questions about voting machines and the three constitutional amendments. Outside the courthouse’s “small courtroom” with its three voting machines, poll workers taped copies of all 24 possible ballots Lee County voters can receive depending on where they live, with the goal of helping people understand their ballots before they walk into the room.
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Lee County poll judge Vivian Humbert supervises early voting at the county courthouse on Thursday, October 31, 2024. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate)
About 25% of Lee County’s registered voters had already voted by Thursday afternoon, poll workers Donna Westbrook and Vivian Humbert said. Early voting began statewide on Oct. 21.
Meanwhile in Helena-West Helena in Phillips County, poll workers have seen roughly 250 voters per day, which is typical for a presidential election year, poll worker Linda Hayden said.
No one from the State Board of Election Commissioners was present at the Phillips County Courthouse Thursday afternoon, but Phillips County is one of several counties that the board is monitoring during early voting and will continue to monitor on Election Day.
SBEC monitored Phillips and Lee counties during the 2022 election; the board is monitoring Crittenden County but not Lee County this year.
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Voters’ priorities
Voters in all three counties said the most important matter on their ballot was the presidential race between Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump.
John Cummings of West Memphis said he is a lifelong Democrat and supported both Harris and state legislative candidate Jessie McGruder. West Memphis has two state House seats, and both have contested races with no incumbents.
Rosie Staples of Helena-West Helena said she also voted for Harris, largely out of concern over the cost of living and access to healthcare.
Rosie Staples of Helena-West Helena voted early on Thursday, October 31, 2024. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate)
“I think the best choice is the person that can reduce those costs,” Staples said. “…You can’t trust politicians, period, but you just hope for the best.”
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Stone Robbins, also of Helena-West Helena, said his top priority was “Trump all the way.”
“His track record from 2016 to 2020 versus [President Joe] Biden’s track record from 2020 to now is incomparable,” Robbins said.
Randy Bradshaw of Marianna said he also supports Trump. He called the current state of the economy “pitiful” and said he believes current leaders are allowing illegal immigrants and drugs to flow into the country.
“I’m not a Democrat or a Republican,” Bradshaw said. “It don’t matter who is on the ticket. It’s who I think can do the job better… I care about the welfare of my family, myself and everyone else in the United States.”
Bradshaw and his wife voted just before a 1:30 p.m. influx of voters that created a line out the door of the room with the voting machines.
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Kerry Stiles, also of Marianna, was part of that line. She said the second-most important race on her ballot was the one for Arkansas House District 62.
Incumbent Rep. Mark McElroy, R-Tillar, faces a rematch against his previous Democratic opponent, Dexter Miller of Helena-West Helena. In 2022, McElroy won by fewer than 200 votes in a newly-drawn district and had previously represented an almost entirely different part of the Delta.
Stiles is a farmer, and she said she supported McElroy for reelection because he is “a big supporter of farmers.”
Her occupation also made it important for her to vote for Issue 1, she said. The proposed constitutional amendment would allow state lottery proceeds to fund scholarships and grants to students in vocational-technical schools and institutions, and Stiles said she believes Arkansas needs more people trained in vo-tech fields.
Two other constitutional amendments are on Arkansans’ ballots, though the votes for Issue 3 will not be counted. The measure would have made changes to the state’s medical marijuana industry; Robbins said he supported it, while Bradshaw said he opposed it.
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Teresa Ball said one of her priorities was Issue 2. She recently moved to Fairfield Bay but voted Thursday in Marianna because she is still registered there.
Issue 2 would repeal a Pope County casino license and require countywide special elections for any new casinos built in Arkansas.
“That should be on the ballot, and it should not just be big money that buys [casinos],” Ball said.
JONESBORO, Ark. (AP) — Josh Hill scored 26 points as Arkansas State beat Coastal Carolina 97-67 on Saturday.
Hill shot 9 for 15, including 6 for 12 from beyond the arc for the Red Wolves (10-3, 1-0 Sun Belt Conference). Joseph Pinion scored 19 points while shooting 5 for 10 (4 for 7 from 3-point range) and 5 of 6 from the free-throw line and added five rebounds and three steals. Taryn Todd finished 6 of 11 from the field to finish with 13 points, while adding five rebounds and six assists.
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Jordan Battle finished with 20 points and seven rebounds for the Chanticleers (6-6, 0-1). Colin Granger added 16 points and 10 rebounds for Coastal Carolina. Denzel Hines also had 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Arkansas State next plays Thursday against Old Dominion on the road, and Coastal Carolina will host Warner on Sunday.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Eastern Michigan transfer defensive back Quentavius Scandrett has signed with Arkansas, the team announced Saturday morning.
As a 6-foot-3, 200-pound senior this season, Scandrett recorded 55 total tackles, one interception and three pass deflections. Scandrett took an official visit to Fayetteville on Thursday.
According to Pro Football Focus, Scandrett logged 590 snaps and a 72.9 overall grade on defense this season. His coverage grade of 77.7 was the best of any Eastern Michigan defender in 2024.
A native of Lovejoy, Georgia, Scandrett was named a 2024 Preseason Athlon Sports All-MAC First Team Defense player prior to the season. He will have one year of eligibility left with Arkansas.
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2024: Earned 2024 Preseason Athlon Sports All-MAC First Team Defense…
2023: Played in all 13 games and started in 12… Selected to wear the 0 jersey for the Buffalo game (Nov. 21)… Finished the year with 59 tackles, including 31 solo stops… Picked off two passes, including one each against UMass (Sept. 9) for 22 yards and Central Michigan (Sept. 30) for no return… Added one pass breakup in the 68 Venture Bowl game against South Alabama…
2022: Participated In all 13 games… Recorded 44 tackles (27 solo, 17 assisted)… Snagged his first collegiate interception, returning the ball 34 yards as well as tabbing his first career pass break-up against Ball State (Oct. 22)… Swatted down another pass versus Central Michigan (Nov. 25)…
2021: Appeared in three games for the Green and White… Recorded his first collegiate tackle against Saint Francis (Sept. 3)… Added three additional tackles in the team’s game at Wisconsin (Sept. 11)…
HIGH SCHOOL: Attended Lovejoy High School where he played under Head Coach Edgar Carson as a Wildcat… Played both ways for the team as a wide receiver and defensive back… In 2020, tallied 48 tackles, nine breakups, three interceptions, and a touchdown… Selected all-region… Caught a 53-yard touchdown pass midway through the third quarter to break a 7-7 tie with Tucker in a region 4-6A game… The win was the first-ever over Tucker and helped Lovejoy improved to 7-0 for the first time since 2011… Selected to play in the rising seniors game featuring players from Georgia versus Florida…
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PERSONAL:Full Name: Quentavius D’shaun Scandrett… Father of Skai Scandrett… Son of Vincent and Antoinette Scandrett… Has two brothers, Dontrez and Tramius… Biology major.
A federal judge on Friday postponed a final decision on most of Arkansas’ motion to dismiss a lawsuit over the “indoctrination” portion of the governor’s education overhaul law.
In a 60-page order issued shortly before 5 p.m., Judge Lee Rudofsky of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas in Little Rock said he was holding most of the state’s dismissal motion “in abeyance.”
But he granted the part of the motion involving the plaintiffs’ claims that Section 16 of the LEARNS Act on its face violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. He directed the plaintiffs and defendants to submit additional briefs on whether Section 16 as it is applied is discriminatory.
Little Rock Central High School parents, students and teachers filed the lawsuit in March against Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Education Secretary Jacob Oliva.
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One of the plaintiffs, Ruthie Walls, teaches AP African American Studies, a course that received scrutiny after Sanders signed an executive order banning “indoctrination” on her first day in office.
Similar language was later incorporated into the LEARNS Act. The state education department abruptly removed a pilot version of the AP course from its list of approved courses days before the start of the 2023-2024 school year last August.
Attorneys for the state and plaintiffs argued their case regarding the motion to dismiss in an October hearing that ended without a ruling from the judge.
Walls said after October’s hearing that, while the course is now fully accredited and students are earning AP credit for completion, she struggles to provide students with detailed explanations of the “fast and rich” curriculum because she isn’t sure what falls under the state’s definition of Critical Race Theory, one of the subjects included in the anti-indoctrination provision. U.S. District Judge Lee P. Rudofsky (Courtesy photo)
Rudofsky issued a narrowly tailored preliminary injunction in May preventing the state from enforcing the provision of the LEARNS Act that proscribes what can be taught in certain courses regarding race, gender and sexuality. The state appealed that injunction to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has decided it wants to hear oral arguments. A hearing date has not been set.
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Under the preliminary injunction Rudofsky granted in May, Arkansas teachers can discuss Critical Race Theory, but they may be disciplined for “[compelling a] student to adopt, affirm, or profess a belief in a theory, ideology or idea (including Critical Race Theory) that conflicts with the principle of equal protection under the law.”
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Reasons for delaying
Rudofsky’s rationale in holding off on ruling on most of the state’s motion to dismiss involves waiting for the appeals court to resolve what he describes as unsettled legal questions regarding the free speech rights of teachers and students in a classroom setting.
Much of his Friday order deals with whether the plaintiffs made compelling arguments for their claims that the LEARNS Act’s anti-indoctrination provision on its face violates the equal protection clause and affects African Americans disproportionately.
“If discussing the idea and history of Critical Race Theory is allowed — and only compelling a student to believe in Critical Race Theory is prohibited — the Court struggles to understand how anyone is adversely impacted,” Rudofsky wrote in one part of his analysis.
The judge cites differing interpretations of the 14th Amendment’s anti-discrimination provisions in his reasoning on granting that part of the state’s motion to dismiss.
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“Many Americans of good faith strongly believe that the answers to the racial problems we face as a country lie in governmental and societal color-blindness,” he wrote.
Treating people differently based on race is morally and often constitutionally abhorrent to such Americans, he says, and they believe suggesting that racism affects every part of society “makes racial problems worse, not better.”
Other Americans of good faith, however, “strongly believe otherwise,” he wrote.
“To these Americans,” he says, “the answers to our racial problems lie, at least partially, in recognizing that race often matters, that certain groups (including African Americans) have long been discriminated against by both government and private society, and that active measures are necessary to rectify past injustices and present inequality.”
These citizens see treating people differently based on race as “often morally and constitutionally acceptable or even obligatory,” Rudofsky wrote. And they see an emphasis “on racial identity, systemic racism and unconscious bias” as necessary to dealing with the historic effects of racism, he added.
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“These Americans see color-blindness as a pretense that reinforces racial inequality by refusing to confront systemic racism and unconscious bias. They believe there is a ‘legal and practical difference between the use of race-conscious’ measures to harm (or exclude) disfavored groups and the use of such measures to help (or include) them,” the judge wrote.
In adopting the LEARNS Act, “a majority of elected lawmakers seem to hold the colorblind view,” he wrote. The plaintiffs seem to contend that applying the colorblind view to legislation “is tantamount to discriminatory intent or purpose.”
“It is not,” Rudofsky wrote. “Plaintiffs may not like the colorblind view. Plaintiffs may think that those who hold this view are wrong or ignorant or even naïve. But that’s a world away from intentional discrimination.”
The facts presented by the plaintiffs don’t allow him to reasonably infer that “discriminatory intent or purpose was a motivating factor in the enactment of the LEARNS Act’s anti-indoctrination provision,” he wrote in dismissing the plaintiffs’ facial equal protection claims.
Friday’s order gives defendants until Jan. 31 to file additional briefs on their motion to dismiss limited to the plaintiffs’ Equal Protection claims regarding the anti-indoctrination provision as it has been applied. Plaintiffs’ briefs on the issue are due Feb. 28, and the defendants’ reply brief on March 14.
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