As we flagged last night, early reports today are that the concerns about the polling place fiasco in Garland County, Arkansas, have now “come to full flower.”
Garland Election Commissioner Charles Tapp had unilaterally (without the vote of his two other commissioners) decided to reduce the number of polling locations from 42 during the general primary on May 18th, to just 2 for today’s run-off primary.
The decision is expected to most drastically affect Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, who did exceptionally well in the county during the general Democratic primary in his now-very-tight race against incumbent U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln.
After Tapp had announced that an additional polling place would be opened last Saturday for early voting to ease the expected crowds today, he changed his mind at the last moment, and “hundreds of voters” are said to have shown up on Saturday, without being allowed to vote.
Today, long lines and parking problems are being reported at the county’s only two open polling places, after 12,000 had cast votes in the general primary on May 8th…
Max Brantley at the Arkansas Times calls it a “cluster#@%*”:
There’s one poll in Hot Springs, at the election commission, and one in Hot Springs Village (beyond the community’s access gates). If it’s a close election and Bill Halter loses, somebody is going to howl, given Blanche Lincoln’s poor showing in Garland in the first primary. She got only about 40 percent of the vote.
Those in line by 7:30 still may be able to vote. One question, however, may be what constitutes a line. Confident that Commission Chairman Charles Tapp and Co. will have a good answer?
Michael Whitney at firedoglake has a bit more:
…
UPDATE: Reports from Arkansas indicate that after Halter volunteers spent the morning trying to direct the huge amount of traffic at the two polling places, the state police have been called in to try to alleviate the massive parking problems.
It is simply inexcusable that outgoing Sec. of State Charlie Daniels did not step into this mess to clean it up long ago, late last week when it had already become more than clear what was about to happen.
“Cluster#@%*,” indeed.
I pray Holter doesn’t concede…If only to bring awareness to the scam…maybe pull a Lieberman and run as an independent…F— the Democrats!!
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, no new vote totals in over two hours. That may mean that something is wrong.
I just watched the Tuesday-Wednesday 12AM Special Edition of Hardball, where the panel agreed that Halter was to blame for “not sneaking up on Lincoln.” (I think it was former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown who advanced that view.) Apparently, according to Brown and Chuck Todd and Chris Matthews, it’s Halter’s fault (and the unions’ fault) that polls showed he was ahead of Lincoln going into today’s runoff.
Lt. Governor Halter complained directly to Tapp last week. Tapp agreed to open one additional polling site on Saturday. Tapp later shut this measly site down after learning that state law bars voting in runoffs on Saturdays. http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/06/08/arkansas-halter-lincoln-runoff-voter-irregularities-brewing/
It now remains to be seen whether Halter will litigate the disenfranchisement of his supporters. Screw the “sore loser” label. I certainly hope he does.
Monday night’s edition of “The Ed Show” showcased the problem highlighted in this article. Ed Schultz interviewed MoveOn’s Adam Green, who accused Charles Tapp by name for suppressing the turnout in Halter’s strongholds. Green vowed his crew would work the phones to identify voters who would need a ride to travel 20+ miles to get to their gerrymandered polling sites. In the end, Tapp’s Rovean tactics proved too strong an obstacle to overcome.
The Democratic Party’s insiders win; democracy loses.
I pray Holter is not another Dem who concedes a stolen election. Talk about demoralizing your base….
Update: “A lawsuit on behalf of three Arkansas voters against the Garland County Election Commission was filed late Tuesday afternoon, adding a dramatic twist to Tuesday’s runoff between incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Lt. Governor Bill Halter for the Democratic Senate nomination.”
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/06/08/voter-lawsuit-filed-in-arkansas-blanche-lincoln-bill-halter-se/
One problem for Halter is that he defeated Lincoln in Garland County in the May 18 primary by only 474 votes. Lincoln defeated Halter in the runoff by four percentage points statewide. Tapp could argue that the Garland County turnout would not have been decisive.
That margin-of-victory type of argument still doesn’t excuse Tapp’s shameful and shameless disenfranchisement of Garland County voters. If left unchallenged, this runoff could set a chilling precedent throughout the country in state primaries for either major party. We cannot allow Rovean tactics to be institutionalized. I therefore hope that the plaintiffs prevail in this lawsuit.
I smell a rat…it smells like Rahm Emauel…Bill Clinton…etc. the Corporate snake tail of the DNC…(of which, I am pretty sure Obama is the head of)…give the (stupid) people what they think they want..an olgiarchy (like other third world dictatorships have)..let them find out the difference in real time…FU*K ‘EM…I am 60, I’m tired of ignorance, manipulation, intolerance and hatred passed off as political knowledge and patriotism..I’ll be dead soon enough
not to quibble but you report that 12,000 ballots were cast in garland in the first primary but the sos shows 17,963 votes cast as of 5/23/10 and today (6/9/10) the sos shows that in the 1st primary 18,444 votes were cast
here is a copy of something i am curious about,from the sos site:
Election results are unofficial and may be incomplete
Custom Reports and Downloads
Results are reloaded every 5 minutes
U.S. Senate
Garland County Halter Lincoln
AV ABSENTEE 100 007 105 113
EV GCEC BLDG 100 003 261 200
EV HSV CHAMBER IVO 006 1,601 1,527
ED PROVISIONAL 100 008 1,653 1,826
Totals 3,620 3,666
whats up with 3479 provisional ballots? outta 7286 votes cast
What’s with the remaining absence of results in several counties (as of this writing the following afternoon)? I mean, if all you do is push a button, the system serves up results like a cappuccino machine, no?
http://www.votenaturally.org/electionresults/index.php?ac:show:contest_countywide=1&elecid=221&countyid=all&PRINT=1
My favorite feature is the Last Update: N/A that applies to many of the counties down the line.
Very interesting, at least as a window into the political climate in each county, is the correlation between LJ Bryant and Halter. Bryant was similarly attacked by the AR Dem leaders, but did quite well with exceptional performance in many of the areas that went for Halter.
It’s interesting that the final count was pretty much a direct FLIP of the pre-election polls.
Coincidence?
CharlieL: “Coincidence?”
Coincidence is a false contrivance oft used by poor writers to get themselves out of a corner they’ve written themselves into, so I’m thinking ‘no’. Good catch on the polls v. vote count.
This is a disgrace. Anyone that would suppress a vote (“steal” a vote is more appropriate of a label) should be behind bars. The right to a vote was bought and is regularly renewed with blood and treasure and people like Tapp (and SoS Charlie Daniels) are nothing more than traitors to the Constitution. Even though I am a Democrat, I’m totally non-partisan about this particular issue.
Holter should challenge this election or run as an independent just to screw the machine, throw a sabot into the gears as it were. Absent that, voters should write his name in on the ballot in hopes of denying Lincon a win in the general just to punish the Party. Maybe it’s time for the voters to start playing dirty too.
“Holter should challenge this election or run as an independent just to screw the machine, throw a sabot into the gears as it were. Absent that, voters should write his name in on the ballot in hopes of denying Lincon a win in the general just to punish the Party. Maybe it’s time for the voters to start playing dirty too.”
My thoughts exactly…Screw the Democraps…Halter should pull a Lieberman…..I am so over this whole stupid sick country…
Holter can not “do a Liberman” (i.e. run as an independent). The law in Arkansas doesn’t allow a candidate that was on a party primary ballot to run as an independent in the same election.
Even if he could, it wouldn’t work. He won’t get any of the Rethuglicans, and would need them to have a chance against Lincoln.
On The Ed Show, he mentioned that about 40 polling places were shut down, at about the 2:45 minute mark:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-tv/arianna-responds-to-the-w_b_606799.html
– Tom
The reason people are hoping Halter will run is not in hopes he will win, but in hopes he will act as a spoiler and that Lincoln will lose. Unfortunately, that would give us one more Rethug in the Senate. We need our own party. I’m re-registering Green.