Each election cycle, Arkansas counties decide whose name goes first on the ballot by having a public drawing. Across the state Friday, candidates or their representatives pulled numbers, indicating the order in which they’ll appear on the ballot alongside other candidates.
In Saline County, the numbers came out of chips in a tin can with County Clerk Doug Curtis leading the event at the local vote center. He sometimes called on random people in the crowd to draw for candidates for justice of the peace or third-party presidential candidates.
“We’re all neighbors, we're all friends, we all live in Saline County, the best county in the state,” Curtis said at the event's conclusion, to which an onlooker replied “Amen.”
“Let's keep it that way through the election,” he said.
Curtis said there is no formal "graphic design” that goes into putting the ballot together; they just rank the names on the machines according to the ballot drawing.
Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will appear first on the presidential ballot in Saline County despite suspending his campaign on Friday. Vice President Kamala Harris will appear fourth and Former President Donald Trump will go sixth.
Kennedy will also appear first on the ballot in Pulaski County. At their ballot draw, election officials used a bingo wheel to choose numbers for their ballot order. Former President Trump and Vice President Harris will be ranked seventh and fourth, respectively.
Candidates in Washington County drew their numbers on paper slips Friday morning. Faulkner County held a draw at 1 o'clock in the afternoon.
Ret. Col. Marcus Jones is running as a Democrat against Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. French Hill in the 2nd Congressional District, which covers parts of Pulaski, Faulkner and Saline counties. Jones was excited about where he was placed in the order.
“We’re in the first position in the three draws we did today,” he said. “This is a great process.”
