x
Breaking News
More () »

Several Arkansas races will now go to runoff election

Super Tuesday has passed, but several races will still go to a runoff election — but what exactly does that mean for people in Arkansas?

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — For the past several weeks, Arkansans have made their way to cast their ballots for the March primary election. Some people participated in early voting, while others waited to cast their vote on Super Tuesday.

Now, they could be back at the polls for a second time come April.

"So, state legislative races, for instance, or county races, school board races, those will go to a runoff, which will take place on April 2nd which is coming up in a few weeks," said Chris Powell, Press Secretary for the Arkansas Secretary of State.

Super Tuesday ended with many candidate races called, however, some races are still not final.

"We have several races where there were more than two candidates and in Arkansas, if you don't get more than 50% of the vote, that race will go to a runoff election," Powell explained.

He also explained that the voting period is extremely important, but the runoffs are where they really encourage people to come out and vote because things can get down to the wire.

"Literally every vote can matter. They can come down to just a handful of votes deciding, you know, an important race. We just want people to realize the power that they have with their vote. That one person really can make a difference," Powell said.

A big question that Arkansans have asked is "If you weren't registered to vote in the primary election can you vote in the runoff?"

Powell said that if you are registered and didn't vote on Tuesday, the rules in Arkansas rules say you can vote in whichever partisan primary runoff you wish whether it's Republican, Democrat, or Libertarian.

"You have to be registered 30 days ahead of an election so the timeframe for registering for the runoff if you weren't registered has already passed," Powell said. "However, if you did vote in either [the] Democrat or Republican primary, you have to vote in that same runoff according to the party."

He explained how this year's primary election had the lowest voter turnout since 2018, and said the primary turnout was about 20%. However, they generally see a turnout of about 65% in a presidential year in the fall election.

Now, Powell is encouraging everyone to get out and vote.

"It's your legislator that's being elected or your school board member, your county judge, or something like that. We want people to have their say on who's representing them and making decisions on their behalf," Powell said. 

Before You Leave, Check This Out