Today’s episode of the Arkansas Civic Minute is brought to you by Civic Arkansas, a Winthrop Rockefeller Institute program, and hosted by Little Rock Public Radio’s Politics and Government Reporter Josie Lenora.
Arkansas once allowed people to vote for candidates by writing them in.
The policy even once allowed for a surprise national victory. Dale Alford was elected to Congress in 1958, unique because it was solely done with write-in ballots. Alford won against an incumbent with about 1,000 more votes. Alford is still only the third write-in candidate to successfully win a seat in Congress.
In more recent years, candidates had to fill out paperwork to be considered as a write-in. No more write-in candidates have existed since 2023. That year, a law was passed preventing any write-in options on the ballots in Arkansas.
Support for the Arkansas Civic Minute is provided by Civic Arkansas, a Winthrop Rockefeller Institute program. As a nonprofit convenor, the Institute looks to strengthens civic health by putting people first, removing barriers to participation, and supporting community-led solutions for a more connected civic culture. More information at https://rockefellerinstitute.org/programs/civic-arkansas/.