Arkansas Election FAQ"s

Q. What are the requirements to be a registered voter in Arkansas?
A. You must:
*Be a U.S. citizen.
*Be an Arkansas resident (residing in Arkansas at least 31 days prior to the first
election in which you will vote).
*Be age 18 or turn 18 before the next election.
*Not be a convicted felon who has not been discharged or pardoned.
*Not have been adjudged mentally incompetent as to your ability to vote by a court
of competent jurisdiction.
*Not be registered elsewhere - in another county in Arkansas or another state.

Q. How can I apply to register to vote?
A. Apply in person at one of the following locations:
*County Clerk's Office in your home county
*State Revenue Office, Driver Services (pick up a paper form or ask for your
information to be transmitted electronically)
*Public Library or Arkansas State Library
*Public Assistance Agency
*Disability Agency
*Military Recruitment Office
*Arkansas National Guard
*Any Voter Registration Drive
*Apply by mail. It's easy! Obtain an application from:
*Your county clerk
*Secretary of State Voter Services 1-800-247-3312
*The Internet at www.sosweb.state.ar.us/vote/vote.html

Q. What if I am registered in another county or state?
A. If you have moved to Arkansas from another state, please notify your voter
registrar in the previous state of residence to request cancellation.
Similarly, if you have moved from one county to another within Arkansas, you
must cancel your registration in the old county and reregister in your new
county of residence.
If you have questions about canceling your registration, please ask your local
County Clerk for assistance.

Q. As a new applicant, how do I know when I've actually been registered?
A. Consider yourself registered when and only when you receive an acknowledgment
from your County Clerk - this could take several weeks, regardless of your
method of application.
Never "assume" you are registered to vote until you have received this
acknowledgment.

Q. What do I do if weeks pass without hearing from my County Clerk?
A. Call your County Clerk after two weeks and inquire about the status of your
application.

Q. When is it too late to apply to register prior to an election?
A. You must submit your application to an official voter registration agency or
mail it no later than 30 days prior to an election in which you wish to vote. If
you mail your application, its postmark will determine the deadline eligibility.
If you submit your application close to an election registration deadline, you are
strongly advised to follow up on your registration status by contacting your
County Clerk.
If an election deadline is looming, there is one method of application that will
ensure your eligibility: application in person with your local County Clerk.
As a new voter, we do not recommend that you go to a poll to vote on election day
before verifying your registration status with your local County Clerk.
Special Registration Issues:
If you are a college student attending college OUTSIDE of your home county, you
must decide what county you consider "home." If you intend to return someday to
your home county, then list your parents' address as your residence. If you do NOT
intend to return there, then list your college address as your residence.

Remember: you must keep your residence address CURRENT on your voter
registration. This requirement often persuades college students to use their
parents' address, which is less likely to change repeatedly.

If you are in the military, you may register to vote in a county where you "intend
to reside" in the future. This intent to reside should be substantiated by some
action on your part like obtaining a drivers license, paying taxes, etc. Without
such an intent to reside in a particular county, you may register with the county
to vote only for federal officeholders or issues. In this type of situation, you
would not be eligible to vote for local candidates or issues.

Military personnel may contact the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) for
further information or to obtain a Federal Post Card Application (FPCA). Call
1-800-438-8683 or email the program at vote@fvap.gov.

If you own property in more than one county, you must register to vote wherever
you actually "live or reside." Owning property or a business in a county does not
constitute residency there.

Q. How many ways can I vote in Arkansas?
A. Vote at your poll on election day from 7:30 am to 7:30 pm.

Your poll is determined by your residence and its corresponding precinct assigned
to you by your County Clerk. Most local newspapers publish a list of polling
places by precinct within a few days of an election. You may find your precinct
on the voter id card sent to you by your County Clerk.

Vote early.
You may vote one to fifteen days prior to an election by early voting.
In most counties, you vote early in the County Clerk's office during normal
business hours.

If your county offers "off-site" early voting, your local paper will publish the
designated sites.

There is no additional paperwork required to vote early, only your presence.

You may update your voter registration information while you vote early if your
name or address has changed.

Vote absentee.
If you fall into one of these categories, you may vote absentee:
You will be unavoidably absent from your polling site on election day (the law
does not require you to give a reason).

You will be unable to attend your polling site due to illness or physical
disability.
Visit http://www.votenaturally.org/all_about_voting.html for more information.

Q. What procedure should I expect when I vote early or on election day?
A. You must state your name and address and confirm your date of birth to an
election official.

The election official will ask you to provide identification. The following documents are acceptable: valid driver's license, valid photo id card issued by a governmental agency, voter id card, Social Security card, birth certificate, U.S. passport, employee id card issued by a governmental agency containing a photograph, employee id card issued in the normal course of business of the employer, valid student id card, valid Arkansas hunting license, valid U.S. Military id card.

If a voter is unable to provide identification, the election official will indicate on the Precinct Voter Registration List that the voter did not provide identification.

In a primary election, you must state which party ballot you want to vote (as of 1999, Democratic or Republican), beginning in the 2002 primary, a non-partisan judicial ballot will also be available.

In a primary election, you are allowed to vote only one party's ballot, or beginning in 2002, you may select the non-partisan judicial ballot only.

In a primary election, the election official records which party ballot you vote.

You must sign the Precinct Voter Registration List.
You must sign the List of Voters.
The election official will give you your ballot or direct you to a voting machine.
You will go alone to a voting booth and mark your ballot.
You are allotted 5 minutes to vote.
After voting your ballot, you will tear off the ballot stub and place it in the
stub box provided.
Finally, you will deposit the ballot in the ballot box.

Q. If the election official knows me, do I have to present identification?
A. Yes.

Q. What if I need assistance to vote my ballot?
A. If you inform the election officials that you need assistance, you may ask two
election officials to assist you in marking your ballot and voting, or you may
be assisted by another person of your choice. If you are unable to stand in
line, you may request to advance to the front of the line.

If you are disabled, an election official may not bring a ballot to your car.
Please plan ahead to vote absentee if you are physically unable to make it into
your polling site. Under no circumstances may a ballot leave the polling site.

Q. What if my polling site is not wheelchair accessible?
A. The Americans With Disabilities Act requires all polling sites to be wheelchair accessible. Please call the State Board of Election Commissioners (501-682-1783) if you are uncertain about the accessibility of your polling site.

Q. What if I make a mistake on my ballot?
A. If you have not already deposited your ballot in the ballot box, you may ask an election official for another ballot. You will be asked to sign a Spoiled Ballot Affidavit, recording the ballot stub number. Do not hesitate to ask to start over.

Q. What if I am at the polls and my current address differs from what appears on the Precinct Voter Registration List?
A. If your new address IS within the current voting precinct, an election official
may record it on the Precinct Voter Registration List OR may request that you
fill out a Voter Registration Application to update your records.

If your new address is NOT within the current voting precinct, you must contact
your County Clerk to determine the appropriate precinct. You must then go to the
proper polling site to vote. You will not be allowed to vote at a polling site
that does not correspond with your current residence.

Q. What if my name is NOT on the Precinct Voter Registration List?
A. Are you a recent applicant? If so, did you properly follow up with your County
Clerk? Did the County Clerk send you a voter id card or some other type of
acknowledgment of your registration?

You must identify yourself by name and date of birth. An election judge must
discover if you are indeed registered with the County Clerk and if your
registration occurred by the election deadline.

The election official must also confirm that your current address is within the
boundaries of that voting precinct.

If all your information is confirmed, you must complete a Voter Registration
Application to update your information.

Q. What if my name is NOT on the Precinct Voter Registration List AND the election official cannot confirm my registration?
A. You may vote a challenged ballot. Your challenged ballot will be maintained
separately and securely from the other ballots. Prior to certification of
election results, your County Board of Election Commissioners must determine the
validity of all the challenged ballots. If your voter registration and
eligibility to vote in the election at that poll can be confirmed with the
county clerk, your ballot will be counted.

If you have to vote a challenged ballot, call your local county clerk. If the
clerk has no record of your application for registration, request that the clerk
send you a new application in the mail. Next time follow up on your registration
status.

Q. Who can "actively" challenge my ballot?
A. Poll watchers (candidates, representatives of candidates or representatives of
issues) are allowed inside the polls to observe, and sometimes they challenge
the ballots of voters. Normally, they base a challenge on identity, address or
date of birth of the voter. In other words, a poll watcher questions that a
voter is who he says he is, questions that he lives at the stated address, or
questions that he is old enough to vote.

Poll workers (election officials) may also challenge your ballot based on
identity.

Q. What happens if my ballot is challenged by a pollwatcher?
A. Your ballot will be maintained separately from other ballots until the close of
the polls. At that time, Election Commissioners verify your registration and
eligibility to vote at that poll. If your registration and eligibility are in
order, they will count your ballot.

Q. Are candidates allowed to solicit my vote outside my polling site?
A. Yes, "electioneering" is allowed outside the polls. However, it may not occur
within 100 feet of the primary entrances of the buildings that contain polls.
If you are approached by a campaign worker or candidate within 100 feet of a
poll, report the violation to the election officials at that poll immediately or
contact your County Board of Election Commissioners.

Q. So, if I have some sort of problem or question, who do I call?
A. If you have a problem or question involving your registration information or
registration status, contact your local County Clerk.

Examples:

The date is approaching 30 days prior to an election, and you haven't received
your voter id card.

Your name does not appear on the Precinct Voter Registration List at your poll,
and the election officials cannot verify your registration.

You have moved or changed your name, and you need to update your voter
information.

If you have a problem or question involving a poll worker, a poll watcher, or any
election day procedure at a poll, contact your local County Board of Election
Commissioners

Top Ten Reasons to Fire Blanche Lincoln

10. Blanche Lincoln will not be the "checks and balances" we need in Congress to stop the liberal/socialist agenda of Barack Obama


9. Blanche Lincoln voted against an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to make marriage between a man and a woman in all 50 states. She stands in direct oppositions to the 75% of Arkansans who voted for the same amendment to the Arkansas Constitution in 2004.


8. Blanche Lincoln has lost touch with Arkansas values. Since graduating from high school in Arkansas, she has spent very little time as an adult working and living in Arkansas. Most of her adult years have been spent out East and in Washington, D.C.


7. Blanche Lincoln is in the top third of U.S. Senators in terms of wasteful, pork-barrel spending that does not serve a vital national interest.


6. Blanche Lincoln became a U.S. Senator in January 1999. At that time, our National Debt stood at $5.6 Trillion Dollars and our employment rate was 4.3%. As a U.S. Senator, Blanche Lincoln is supposed to be a "watchdog" for our Nation and our State, but in her 12 years as senator, under her watch, our National Debt has doubled to $11.6 Trillion Dollars and our unemployment rate has more than doubled to 9.5


5. Blanche Lincoln has never stood up for civil rights for the unborn.


4. Blanche Lincoln was for "Card Check" before she was against it! So how can we be sure that she won't ever vote for "Card Check"? Vote her out of office and vote a conservative who will never consider voting for such an Un-American bill.


3. Blanche Lincoln won't stand up and fight back against the liberal/socialist agenda of Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi.


2. Blanche Lincoln thinks Arkansans are "Un-American" because they speak up against government-run healthcare.


1. Blanche Lincoln is a "Tax and Spend", "Big Government" Liberal.


Fire Blanche Lincoln.com is owned and sponsored by Conservatism Lives Here.org, an Arkansas-based Political Action Committee. Since a vast majority of Arkansans live their lives in a Conservative fashion, Conservatism Lives Here.org is committed to supporting efforts of Arkansans to elect true Conservatives -- just like themselves -- to the U.S. Congress and the Arkansas Statehouse

WELCOME TO THE U.S.A!

I would personally like to welcome all the illegal immigrants to The United States of America! Feel free to take advantage of what our government has to offer!

JOBS

Illegal hiring has not been prosecuted aggressively in recent years: between 1999 and 2003, according to The Washington Post, “work-site enforcement operations were scaled back 95 percent by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Major employers of illegal immigrants have included:
Wal-Mart. In 2005, Wal-Mart agreed to pay $11 million to settle a federal investigation that found hundreds of illegal immigrants were hired by Wal-Mart's cleaning contractors.
Swift & Co.. In December 2006, in the largest such crackdown in American history, U.S. federal immigration authorities raided Swift & Co. meat-processing plants in six U.S. states, arresting about 1,300 illegal immigrant employees.
Tyson Foods. This company has also been accused of actively importing illegal labor for its chicken packing plants; however, the jury acquitted the company after evidence was presented that Tyson went beyond mandated government requirements in demanding documentation for its employees.


MONEY TO SUPPORT FAMILY

In 2003, then-President of Mexico, Vicente Fox stated that remittances "are our biggest source of foreign income, bigger than oil, tourism or foreign investment" and that "the money transfers grew after Mexican consulates started giving identity cards to their citizens in the United States." He stated that money sent from Mexican workers in the United States to their families back home reached a record $12 billion.Two years later, in 2005, the World Bank stated that Mexico was receiving $18.1 billion in remittances and that it ranked third (behind only India and China) among the countries receiving the greatest amount of remittances.


HEALTH CARE

"Ventanillas de Salud (Health Windows) in Spanish and its mission is to help illegal immigrants find U.S. hospitals, clinics and other government programs where they can get free services without being deported for violating federal immigration laws."
Apparently the programs are available in a number of states and are reported to "annually costs U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars." In 2006, "The Mexican consul in Los Angeles proudly announced that nearly 300,000 Mexicans in the area have benefited from his government’s health referral program, which he says actually saves the county money by encouraging immigrants to seek preventive care rather than waiting for more expensive emergency treatment."
It is hard to hear about illegal immigrants getting free health care when over 40 million U.S. citizens still lack health insurance.

EDUCATION

The total K-12 school expenditure for illegal immigrants costs the states nearly $12 billion annually, and when the children born here to illegal aliens are added, the costs more than double to $28.6 billion.
This enormous expenditure of the taxpayers’ hard-earned contributions does not, however, represent the total costs. Special programs for non-English speakers are an additional fiscal burden as well as a hindrance to the overall learning environment. A recent study found that dual language programs represent an additional expense of $290 to $879 per pupil depending on the size of the class. In addition, because these children of illegal aliens come from families that are most often living in poverty, there is also a major expenditure for them on supplemental feeding programs in the schools.

Arizona's Point of View on Immigration Enforcement

When Arizona passed their law stating that they would essentially do what the Federal government is afraid to do, a political firestorm was ignited. The proponents of illegal immigration began to immediately cry that the Arizona law was denying the non-citizens of their constitutional rights. President Obama even decried the evil intentions of the law. Most likely the most amusing reaction was the call to boycott everything Arizona, including Arizona Iced Tea which is brewed and shipped from Long Island, New York.
The problem with the over the top reactions is that the Arizona law is an exact replica of the Federal law, which the Federal government has been loathe to enforce. The simple fact remains that because the career politicians, from both political parties, have lacked the resolve to actually enforce a law that is already on the books.
As a nation we need to come to a decision that will shape either or our future or our downfall. I do not make this statement lightly. This decision will affect every aspect of our country. The decision is simply this, “Are we a nation of laws, or not?” If we are willing to ignore this law, why bother enforcing any other law? The laws have already been written but we have allowed our elected leaders to ignore them because they see some sort of political advantage.
The first step in solving our illegal immigration issues is to secure our borders. Congress passed legislation over two years ago to construct a fence along our southern border. In typical bureaucratic fashion, they never saw it through to the end. The spineless politicians in Washington DC claim that building a fence several hundred miles long is a difficult task, much too difficult to complete overnight. Their argument is laughable at best. This country built railroads coast to coast, the Empire State Building, the World Trade Center Towers, and a 26-mile bridge tunnel. The American spirit is unstoppable when bureaucratic roadblocks set up by career politicians do not hamper it. A difficult task is not impossible unless the task is abandoned altogether.
After securing our borders, we need to enforce the laws concerning employers who employ illegal aliens. The enforcement on employers will cause them to stop hiring illegal aliens. Without a means of income, many will return home or at least leave the country of their own volition. Those that have still refused to leave must then be sent home.
This is not a heartless position; it is a position that is in accordance with existing law. The United States was made up of legal immigrants. In the 1980’s we tried amnesty, and we were told that if we just grant them amnesty now it would solve the problem of illegal immigration once and for all. It did not work then and it will not work now. We need Common Sense solutions to our country’s problems. Again I say, “Are we a nation of laws, or not?” The decision is ours to make, and we need to make it now. On which side of the law will you stand?