IMAGE: An absentee voter ballot application. With 22 absentee ballots not accepted by voting machines due to an apparent safeguard, one local contest remains undecided on election night. | Shutterstock.com
This post was updated March 4 to include the absentee ballots that were initially uncounted on election night. The original headline and post are below the updated information.
Unofficial results indicate that Clark Tennyson defeated Michael Ray Taylor by 3 votes in a contest for a position on the Arkadelphia Board of Education. Tennyson, the incumbent, claimed 63 votes to Taylor’s 60. Of the absentee ballots that were tallied on Wednesday morning, Taylor gained a single vote in his favor, narrowing the already razor-thin gap from 4 votes to 3.
The victor will be declared on Monday when election commissioners again convene to make results official. Clark County Clerk Tracy Pruitt said there are still 9 provisional ballots to make rulings on.
Arkadelphia school board contest undecided as absentee ballots remain uncounted
By JOEL PHELPS | Arkadelphian.com
The lone contested race for a seat on the Arkadelphia school board is still up in the air as uncounted absentee votes could affect the outcome.
Unofficial results announced Tuesday night point toward a narrow victory for incumbent Clark Tennyson, who claimed 63 votes to challenger Michael Ray Taylor’s 59 votes. Tennyson and Taylor are vying for the Zone 6 position of the Arkadelphia Board of Directors.
According to Clark County election officials, Tuesday’s results do not include 22 absentee ballots. It wasn’t known how many—if any—of those mailed ballots were from voters registered in Zone 6. But with a difference of four votes (a 4% margin) a new tally could affect the outcome.
As results were announced, election officials explained that voting machine safeguards would not accept the 22 absentee ballots.
The election commission and election coordinator will convene at a later date to add those uncounted absentee ballots.