The mid-term elections are rapidly approaching. The filing period for candidates is underway and Craighead County Clerk Kade Holliday expects 2018 to be an active election year.
“We have a gubernatorial race, as well as a gubernatorial primary, on the Republican side,” said Holliday. “There will also be a contested race in the U.S. District 1 race, as well as several state offices that will be contested. I think there will be a lot of engagement this year.”
Holliday says some key changes to voting in Craighead County could take place in time for voting in November. The first change has to do with providing information to voters to their phone.
“You would be able to text a keyword and we will send information about when early voting starts, when the last day to register to vote is, and try to send people to the correct sites to see a sample ballot before they go to the polls.”
The second change could include new voting machines. Holliday says the current machines are about 14 years old and need to be replaced. He says the state is trying to get new machines to every county in time for November.
“Every county is putting up matching funds to get their allotted voting machines, but right now [during the fiscal legislative session] legislators are deciding how to get the state’s funds freed up to send to counties,” said Holliday.
The final change would involve polling central centers where voters could go anywhere in the county to vote.
“Let’s say on election day you had to leave Jonesboro to go to Little Rock, you could stop at Cash or Walnut Street Baptist Church to vote instead of having to go to a specific location (polling site) to vote,” said Holliday.
Kade Holliday. For more local election information during the campaign filing period, go to our website at kasu.org, where that information will be updated daily. The primary elections will be held May 22nd across the state.
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