Baxter County Deserves Fair Elections
By Jason Harmon
Buffalo City, Arkansas
On Election Day, 2022, I proudly walked into my Baxter County voting location to cast my ballot, especially for county officials. To my surprise, however, the names of at least six county candidates were intentionally omitted from the ballot.
Instead, there was a single word: For.
The justice of the peace for my district was not named, even though he participated in the election, along with other county officials who had all won primary elections and faced no general election competitors.
And rather than print the names of those pass-through candidates on the ballot, voters are offered one option: For.
Like elections in some long-ago Soviet satellite country, Baxter County elections hide the names of candidates and future officials from voters.
To offer the appearance of democracy, a single box is provided on the ballot for obedient citizens to make their mark and approve previously selected individuals for office.
That’s not supposed to happen in American elections.
Who can honestly say that’s an election system for which Baxter County voters should be proud?
Beyond the names missing from the general election ballot, the primary election process itself raises serious questions of overall election fairness.
For example, the current Baxter County judge was elected by fewer than 2,500 votes in the 2022 primary election.
Baxter County has more than 29,000 registered voters.
The county judge faced no opponent in the 2022 general election, and essentially bypassed tens-of-thousands of voters entirely to take the county’s top political office unchallenged.
Clearly – intentionally or not – the primary election process is being used by political parties to game the system and bypass the general election.
And again, who can honestly say that’s an election system for which Baxter County voters should be proud?
Political parties of all stripes have the right to select their candidates with taxpayer-funded primary elections. That’s the law those parties passed long ago.
Yet, any fair elections process requires that all candidates for county office not only have their names on the general election ballot, but also face political competitors.
Otherwise, what is the purpose of the general election, if not to allow all voters a chance to select their elected leaders?
Also, why did the county judge and half-a-dozen other county officials face zero political opponents in the 2022 general election – especially in a county of more than 40,000 residents?
The simple answer boils down to ballot access restrictions.
In fact, ballot access is the biggest contributor to lopsided, unchallenged elections in Baxter County.
For example, the ballot access signature requirement – many hundreds to thousands of signatures must be collected in an unreasonably short timeframe – is costly and time consuming.
Ballot access constraints clearly prevent those residents without resources from easily accessing the ballot and elected office.
Oddly, only those unaffiliated with the two major political parties must complete those ballot access requirements.
Party candidates, by contrast, are automatically placed on the primary election ballot without jumping through unattainable hoops.
Solutions to improve Baxter County elections are simple.
First, increase ballot access by removing signature requirements entirely. The more candidates the better in a thriving democratic process.
Second, print all candidate names on all election ballots, even if they face no challenger. An informed electorate requires that voters know their elected leaders.
Third, provide an “Against” option for all candidates on the general ballot.
Voters must be able to vote against any candidate, rather than merely allow candidates who used the primary election process to declare victory without facing voters in the general election.
There must be a fair election rather than a party selection.
If state law says that an office cannot be vacant, that state law should change. Any elected office should sit open until a fair and equally challenged election is held.
Arkansas society will not crumble if the county judge’s office or a justice-of-the-peace chair sits empty for a month or two while a runoff election is held between two opposing candidates.
Ultimately, to paraphrase a famous political observer, Baxter County gets the government it deserves.
If voters are satisfied with candidates’ names hidden from them on the general election ballot, as well as a primary process that can be used to circumvent voter approval in the general election, then the system is working just exactly perfect!
However, I suspect that most Baxter County residents, especially its veterans who fought for their country, want a fair and balanced process and, like myself, expect much more from our county elections process. Contact your county and state elected officials and demand fair elections for all Arkansans.