Voters across Arkansas are casting their ballots this Super Tuesday. Several incumbent members of the Arkansas House of Representatives are facing challengers. The Supreme Court Chief Justice seat is also up for grabs, with four candidates running in the race. Another Supreme Court position, a seat on the Court of Appeals and several other nonpartisan judicial races are also on the ballot.
Pulaski County
At the Dunbar Community Center in Little Rock, voters leaned a little to the left. When picking a judge to vote for, Aldo Botti said he relied on the analysis of the race made by reporter Matt Campbell of the Arkansas Times.
“It's kind of hard to find information on a lot of the races,” Botti said. “There's a lot of third parties that are offering their opinions which is about the best I could find, but not a lot about the candidates themselves.”
In that part of central Arkansas, incumbent Democratic state Rep. Denise Ennett is running against R. Roosevelte Williams III. Supporters for both candidates were cheering them on outside the center.
Miles Waldron only recently became interested in politics after dating someone who worked for Williams.
“He’s very focused on education,” Waldron said. “One thing he talks about is bringing change to lower-income communities.”
Meanwhile, voter Danny Sowell said he leaned “left to moderate.” He said he had a “lawyer friend” help him decide which judges to vote for.
“I wish more people would get out and vote on these little elections,” he said.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders voted at the Dunbar Community Center earlier Tuesday morning.
Saline County
Just southwest of Little Rock in suburban Saline County, voter turnout trended somewhat lower than in years past. Two things were apparent from the voters Little Rock Public Radio spoke with; most were concerned primarily with the upcoming presidential race, and most were there to cast a vote for Donald Trump as their party’s nominee in November.
“My motto: ‘Don’t reelect anybody except Donald Trump,’” one voter said.
Another voter agreed.
“I think he has the most powerful agenda for America, and I think he did a great job when he was doing it before.”
One voter said they identified as a Democrat but did not say who they were voting for specifically. Voters were also less interested in the local races, with many saying they either did not cast a vote for a candidate in the state judicial races or that they did not have a strong opinion on the results of the state elections.
Saline County Communications Director Trevor Villines said that as noon approached on Tuesday, voter turnout was under 16% for the county. He says that included over 12,000 votes total, including the early voter count.
“I will say, that is a little behind compared to previous primary elections,” he said. “In 2016, at the end of early voting, we had 10,360, 41% voter turnout. And in 2020 we had 11,371 early voting, and then 32% total voter turnout. So 32, I guess, is kind of our target point, if you will, for this election.”
Several voters in downtown Benton said they came out because they felt voting was their civic duty. Many had one of two answers for why they believed that voter turnout was lower this year, citing either political burnout or apathy toward the results.
