The Grant County election took a turn Tuesday night back in time, if you will, when the date on the bottom of the unofficial election results stated 12/22/2024 and various times on that date instead of 3/3/2026.
When I asked about it, an election worker said "they didn't have an admin to change that."
Meanwhile, Pualani Berry, who ran for Grant County & Circuit Clerk in this election, works in the election office. She was at a minimum dustributing election pages to an election worker who then handed them to candidates and reporters.
Why was someone running for county clerk actually working in the elections office on Election night?
Why did the date at the bottom say 2024?
While the unofficial results are just that, unofficial, legitimate concerns exist concerning the date.
The Reckoning emailed the following questions to Secretary of State Cole Jester's office and Attorney General Tim Griffin's office.
Jeff LeMaster, communications director for Griffin, replied, "Attorney General Griffin has directed his Election Integrity Unit to look into this, and we do not have any information to provide at this time."
Samantha Boyd, communication's director for Jester, said in a statement, “The discrepancy appears to be the result of a clerical error at the county level. Before tabulators are used, counties must update the date and time settings, and in this instance that step was not completed, which is why the printout reflects an incorrect year. That is currently being corrected by the county. The document is only a preliminary tabulation from the machine. Counties submit a separate results file to the Arkansas Secretary of State’s office for official reporting, and those results reflect the correct date and information. This clerical error does not affect vote totals or the integrity of the election.”
While the date may be a "clerical error", any election irregularities should be under scrutiny.
In March 2025 President Donald Trump signed an executive order about "preserving and protecting the integrity of American elections."
In that order Trump said, "Free, fair, and honest elections unmarred by fraud, errors, or suspicion are fundamental to maintaining our constitutional Republic. The right of American citizens to have their votes properly counted and tabulated, without illegal dilution, is vital to determining the rightful winner of an election."
The Grant County Election Commission posted on its Facebook page Wednesday about the election. They did not post the bottom of the reports showing the dates and times.
The Reckoning examined other counties' results.
For example, Saline and Cleveland Counties have the correct date. The Cleveland County unofficial Summary Results Report states the date as 3/3/2026 and the time of the results as 11:30 p.m.
The Saline County Summary Results have the correct date with the time at 9:08 p.m.
Jefferson County's results also has the correct date and a time of 9:40 p.m.
All three counties also show undervotes on the results. Grant County's results do not.
The Grant County Clerk's office – as do every other clerk's office in the state – must run tests before an election. The Reckoning obtained the tests from the Grant County Clerk's office Wednesday morning.
The date – 11/30/2024 – and the times – 4:12 a.m. and 4:34 a.m. – obviously do not reflect the current year. Those tests results are sent to the Secretary of State's office.
The Reckoning's Richard Owens asked Grant County Circuit Clerk Geral Harrison about the date Wednesday morning while obtaining the test documents. Harrison said the state controls the date not the county.
Citizens can file complaints with the Grant County Election Commission. Those complaints must be filed within 30 days of the election.
That commission then must turn complaints over to the Arkansas Board of Election Commissioners.
The question remains will Grant County and the state of Arkansas certify an election that does not have the correct date on it? What about the candidate working Election Night? What else has been missed if anything?
The Reckoning will keep investigating as we did in the 2024 Pulaski County election.
