Under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, the Reckoning obtained footage from Grant County's Election Night with a camera angle on the election office in the courthouse.
In response to the negative comments on social media about the Reckoning's integrity and fact-based reporting this video has now become a question and answer to which candidates were where on the night of March 3, 2026.
The video shows unedited election night footage from 7 p.m. to midnight. The video appears to show a candidate, who is also a county employee, on the March 3, 2026, ballot inside the election office throughout the event. Normal business hours for courthouse employees are from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
On Jan. 23, 2026, Deltaplex reported on its website that the Grant County Election Commissioners announced a county employee in the courthouse would "drop her duties as election coordinator temporarily because she is a candidate for office." The news site sourced "The Sheridan Headlight" as its original source.
As for the unofficial election results with the November 2024 date, here are all four pages received by the Reckoning the night of March 3, 2026, which are also posted on the Grant County Election Commissioners' Facebook page. However, the pictures on the Commissioners' Facebook account do not show the incorrect 2024 date.
Note: The unofficial Grant County results document shows on the Statistics page "26 Election Day Precincts Reporting 26 of 26."
At the top of the page, however, it shows: "Immanuel, Grapevine, Prattsvile, Poyen, Calvert, Meadowview, Tull, Marlow, Leola."
Prattsville is spelled wrong on the document.
The L & A Testing
The State Board of Election Commissioners (SBEC) requires Logic and Accuracy (L&A) Testing to be conducted "at least seven days prior to the beginning of early
voting for each election. This includes school and special elections."
The SBEC states "Ark. Code Ann. § 7-5-515 requires each County Board of Election Commissioners (CBEC) to test all election media in order to determine that the voting system will correctly count the votes cast for all offices and on all measures."
Early voting for the March 3, 2026, primary began Feb. 17.
Grant County did not conduct L&A Testing until Feb. 19, according to a document obtained by the Reckoning from the Arkansas Secretary of State's office on Friday.
The certification of Logic and Accuracy Testing results form shows the name of the county is Grant, the name of the election as 2026 Primary, date of election 3/3/2026, Logic and Accuracy Completion Date is Feb. 20, 2026. However, on the same document the tests results uploaded to Election Night Reporting Site is listed as Feb. 19, 2026. The date filed with the county clerk is Feb. 20, 2026, and the date this document was filed with the Secretary of State was also Feb. 20, 2026.
The next line states: "I certify that each one of the voting machines for the above named election has been properly tested in accordance with Ark. Code Ann. $ 7-5-515..."
The document also states: "Under the penalty of perjury, I state that the information contained in this certification is true and
correct."
That document was signed by Grant County Election Commissioner Charles Jones and Joanne Theiss, who is chief deputy clerk for Grant County, on Feb. 20, 2026.
The Reckoning chose to publish the first page of the Logistics and Accuracy Zero Reports to show the date as November 30, 2024, with a time stamp of 4:12 a.m.
Due to the wrong date and time on the computer printout, can anyone actually confirm when this test was completed?
The certified "Logic and Accuracy Testing Zero Report" document from the Secretary of State's office has zeroes beside candidates' names. The time stamp is 4:12 a.m.
Another part of the document titled "Logic and Accuracy Testing" with a date of November 30, 2024, at 4:34 a.m. also has candidates' names with numbers beside them.
At the time of the certification of this document it shows 416 ballots had been cast although no county, state or federal race had a total vote count of 416. Even if you remove the 78 "Ballots Cast-Blank" it leaves a total vote cast of 338.
A statistics report shows total number of ballots cast 416 with the Republican ballot numbers at 156, Democrats with 130, Non-Partisian 130, and Ballots Cast Blank 78.
For instance, the Republican U.S. Senate race shows Jeb Little with 26, Micah Ashby with 52 and Tom Cotton with 26 for a total of 104 votes.
The Republican Secretary of State race shows Kim Hammer with 26 votes, Bryan Norris with 52 and Cathy Hardin Harrison, 26.
The Republican Commissioner of State Lands race shows Cole Jester with 26 votes, Christian Olsen with 52.
Republican County and Circuit Clerk Jacob Palmer has 26 votes, Pualani Berry with 52, Stefannie Pruitt with 26 for a vote total of 104.
In the Democratic U.S. Senate race, Ethan N. Dunbar has 26 votes and Hallie Shoffner with 52 votes for a total of 78 votes.
The combined total Republican and Democratic U.S. Senate votes in this document show 182 total votes out of a possible 416 or 338.
Democrat U.S. Congress District 4, Steven Layne O'Donnell has 26 votes and James "Rus" Russell, III, 52 votes. That is a 78 vote total.
Democrat Governor Fred Love has 26 votes and Supha Xayprasith-Mays with 52. In the "Unofficial Results" handed out on Election Night, Mays ended up with a total of 50 votes.
In the State Supreme Court Associate Justice Position 3, John Adams has 78 votes and Nick Bronni had 156 votes for a total of 234 votes.
In the same document Circuit Judge, District 07, Division 2, Stephen Shirron has 78 votes, Margaret Dobson 156 for a total of 234 votes.
Where do all of these numbers originate? Are they merely testing numbers sent in a certified document to the Secretary of State's office or do they reflect early voting numbers considering the tests were done during the early voting period?
Why do none of the vote totals in any county, state or federal race match the total votes cast number of 416 or 338 after removing the blank ballots?
The Reckoning is seeking those answers and will update if we find them.
That time and date
According to the United States Election Assistance Commission, the time and date are critical for Pre-election Testing.
The Secretary of State's website
On Friday morning numbers on the Secretary of State's website for Grant County were different than what county election officials recorded on its "Unofficial Results" handout from Tuesday night.
Look at this race for Grant County treasurer. This screen shot was taken Friday morning. It shows of 9 precincts reporting a total of 5,908 votes. Denise Names had 3,050 votes and Tandi Gillis had 2,855 votes. Remember, on Election Night, the handout showed total votes cast in the election as 3,997.
Those numbers remained the same throughout the day. But Friday night, those numbers changed.
See Scott Wells' name in the picture below?
Wells, who ran for Grant County judge, had 909 votes Friday morning. On Friday night, he had 545 votes – the number reported on Tuesday night's Unofficial Results.
The same situation occurred in the race for Circuit Judge, District 07, Division 2. Earlier today these were the numbers.
By Friday night, the numbers were much lower just like in all other Grant County races.
The House of Represenatives District 92 race? Same thing. On Friday morning, these were the numbers.
By Friday night, those numbers were different and lower.
Note that in Friday morning's screenshots 9 precincts existed. Zero were listed Friday night.
The Secretary of State's website in the top right-hand corner shows the site was last updated at 9:32 p.m. on Friday, March 6.
By Saturday morning, that precinct number had changed to 26 precincts.
Why would election results – even unofficial – change on a Friday night when state and county offices are closed? Or a Saturday morning?
Meanwhile, sources tell the Reckoning that citizen complaints about the election have been filed with the Grant County Circuit Clerk's office. As the Reckoning previously reported, Attorney General Tim Griffin's office is investigating.
This is an ongoing Reckoning investigation.
