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At South Arkansas Reckoning we spend a lot of time checking up on government agencies as well as local boards.
On Nov. 1 an interesting exchange occurred between the three Pulaski County Election Commissioners about voters in an area of North Little Rock “that were potentially switched to Little Rock and put in the wrong congressional district.”
That conversation led to an ongoing investigation about election integrity.
A Freedom of Information request revealed documents including a letter from Pulaski Circuit / County Clerk Terri Hollingsworth to the county’s election commissioners.
That letter indicates that an employee in the voter registration department changed the precinct on the ballots.
That change potentially affected 132 voters, according to the letter.
Election Integrity
An internal investigation was promptly initiated, according to the letter from Hollingsworth.
The letter indicates that steps were taken to remedy the issue by 3:14 p.m. on Oct. 23, 2024. The letter states that the investigation confirmed that the precinct change impacted four voters.
The letter does not indicate if those four voters’ ballots were remedied.
In the Nov. 1 election commissioners meeting, Sydney Rasch, a commissioner, said, “They didn't notify anybody that the race wasn't on their ballot so it was not there was nothing that could be done about those four voters not being able to vote in that election because they didn't tell anybody til after the put their vote in the machine.”
Rasch and David Scott, chairman, indicated in the meeting that the only race affected was a city council race.
However, ballots indicate several races could have been affected:
- U.S. Congress District 2
- State Representative District 69
- Circuit Judge District 6, Division 17, Subdistrict 6.2
- North Little Rock Mayor
- North Little Rock Council Member Ward 2, Pos. 1
- U.S. Congress District 1
- State Senate District 12
- State Representative, District 66
- Unopposed Candidates
Actions taken
The Hollingsworth letter states that the employee who “effected” the change, “would immediately cease in election duties.
“This decision was made to maintain the standards required for the electoral process and to avoid similar issues in the future.”
In a Freedom of Information request to Hollingsworth, the Reckoning asked for information regarding the status of the employee. We asked for a copy of any investigation into the employee, the employee’s resignation letter or documentation related to termination of the employee.
The documents provided by Hollingsworth's office lacked any information regarding the status of the employee in question.
In a phone call with the Reckoning, Hollingsworth stated:
“You need to call HR to get the rest of the information you requested.”
The Reckoning asked Hollingsworth to forward the FOIA request to Human Resources.
She declined stating she was not the custodian of those records.
The Reckoning asked Hollingsworth for email addresses for the Pulaski County Judge and Human Resources.
Hollingsworth responded, “You can go on the Pulaski County website and you can get that information.”
The Reckoning responded, “You should be able to give me that information.”
Hollingsworth stated, “You can look it up as well.”
Hollingsworth was first elected to the clerk position in 2018 and re-elected to a second term in 2022. Hollingsworth is a former Little Rock city planner, worked for the Arkansas Secretary of State and was the director of the State Board of Election Commissioners. She also served as the Chief Administrative Officer at the Delta Regional Authority and a senior advisor for business strategy at Peter Damon Group. She is a board member at Audubon Arkansas, according to her “Meet the Clerk” profile.
At the time of publication Pulaski County Human Resources had not responded to an inquiry related to the employment status of the employee who changed the precincts in early voting referenced in the letter.
Here's the video from the Pulaski County Election Commission meeting on Nov. 1.
Documents obtained under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act from the Pulaski County Election Commission show the precinct change as well as candidates and voters affected by the change.
