People in the less populated counties of Central Arkansas voted early starting Oct. 19. Both White and Jefferson counties are largely rural but have urban centers, which hold the most early voting locations. In White County it’s Searcy and in Jefferson County it’s Pine Bluff.
Those voting early in White County were all over the map politically, but some were OK with the idea of splitting their ticket. Samantha Breedlove, a teacher in Searcy, is one of those people. She voted early at the Carmichael Community Center with her husband and two small children. She said having kids changed her voting habits.
“I used to just vote just to vote. And I used to vote [for] just whatever party. And now I do more research. And I look into each candidate and see what's going to be best for the future, not just for my kids, but for all of the kids and for education – especially coming from an education background,” she said.
White County has a population of just over 80,000 people. Jefferson County has about 20,000 less people with a population of just under 63,000. The largest county in Central Arkansas and the state is Pulaski County with over 400,000 people.
At the Jefferson County Courthouse in Pine Bluff, most voters who spoke to Little Rock Public Radio expressed concern about the county’s future.
Michael and Dolores Smith were two early voters in the county. Dolores is 93 years old and has voted in more elections than she can remember. She said she will vote as long as she’s alive. Michael, her son and caretaker, said he was motivated to vote by the state of the economy – specifically high gas prices and tariffs.
“I've been trying to get everybody I know to kind of come out and vote,” he said. “Let's try to do what we can to get these prices down.”
In Jefferson County, there is one early voting site. In White County, there are two sites in Searcy that opened on Oct. 19 and one in Beebe that opened on Oct. 29.
Voters in these counties were split on whether there should be more early voting sites. Some felt more sites could increase access for those in more rural areas, while others thought the current setup was sufficient.
A law passed last year requires an early voting location in cities with more than 15,000 residents.
