Arkansas voters confused as Libertarian candidates disappear from SoS website

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Heartland Newsfeed) — Arkansas voters are incredibly confused as Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin removed all Libertarian Party candidates except but one from the candidate listings on Friday.

One lone Libertarian will be on the ballot in the upcoming primary remained on the list Friday — William Whitfield Hyman, who is running in the special election for a vacated seat in Arkansas Senate District 8.

Michael Pakko, chairman of the Libertarian Party of Arkansas, made the following statement:

Yes, our candidates disappeared off the list over the course of Friday morning. Not surprisingly, members of our party found it quite disconcerting, particularly since a similar problem happened in the last electoral cycle. I have been told by officials at the Secretary of State’s office that it is because of their preparations for primary elections, but we find that unacceptable. Putting the candidates of long-established political parties on one list and relegating others to obscurity (or maybe a separate list, if that was their plan) gives the appearance of second-class status for our candidates.

I have been assured that the full list will be restored Monday. In the meantime, we are left with no official listing of our candidates (except for Willliam Whitfield Hyman, who is running in both the special election and general election for state senate district 8).

The party’s candidate running for Martin’s office, Christopher Olson, had plenty to say on the matter:

It was quite disconcerting given that a similar “glitch” had occurred in 2015, when all of our candidates disappeared from their candidate listing for the better part of a morning.

Hours later they informed us that they were preparing a primary election list to send to the county clerks. Why this necessitated deletion of 99% of our candidates from their online list was not explained.

I let them know in no uncertain terms that we adamantly opposed any segregation of our candidates to a secondary list, and that the practical effect of their actions was to de legitimize our candidates in the eyes of the public.

As a candidate for Secretary of State, I am concerned that election officials did not think through this decision that negatively impacted a recognized political party. Our candidates deserve the same respect and consideration as the other two parties, especially from a government office.

They have assured us that they will remedy the situation Monday, but that still leaves most of our candidates absent from the official record on the first weekend following the filing period.

I’m sure that there was no malicious intent. But I’m also sure they would not be fixing the problem if I had not brought some pressure to bear on Twitter. We will continue to keep a close eye on the situation. And if elected I will ensure that this will not happen again.

Martin will not be seeking another term, as he is term-limited under state election laws. Seeking to represent the Republican ticket for secretary of state are Land Commissioner John Thurston and State Representative Trevor Drown. Susan Inman, a veteran of the office during the tenure of Sharon Priest, is running on the Democratic ticket.

A representative of the Secretary of State’s office, Chris Powell, cited that they “did have all candidate information up during the filing deadline week” and that the website “is currently reflecting candidates for the primary election only” and will have information on all candidates back up “soon”, pending a fix.

Jake Leonard

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Jake Leonard, a broadcast media and journalism veteran, is the editor-in-chief of Heartland Newsfeed. Leonard is also GM and program director of Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network, wrestling editor and contributing writer for Ambush Sports, a contributing writer for My Sports Vote and Midwest Sports Network, and a former contributor to Bleacher Report and Overtime Heroics. He resides at home in Nokomis, Ill. with his dog Buster.

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