Arkansas Election Commission audit finds Pulaski County improperly altered voter records
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – An audit by the Arkansas Board of Election Commissioners has found irregularities in Pulaski County voter records.
The audit found that 132 voter records for the 2024 election “were inappropriately changed” by an employee of the county clerk’s office's voter registration department. The error led to the affected voters being assigned the wrong precinct and, in turn, being listed for the wrong ballot.
The audit found that only four of the 132 affected voters had cast a ballot before the error was discovered and corrected.
The unnamed employee has been removed from voter registration duties and soon after resigned.
The investigation found that the typical procedure is for voting locations to call in needed changes to voter street files. The procedure that follows is that the person taking the call reports the needed change to the call center supervisor, who, in turn, advises the voter registration office.
Investigators found that, in this case a deputy clerk brought in to help during the election changed street files without following the first step of alerting the supervisor. When confronted with the policy violation, the deputy clerk, who had served in that role for 20 years, resigned.
In testimony before the investigators, Pulaski County and Circuit Assistant Chief Deputy over election Candace Edwards said the 132 changes were found on Oct. 23, 2024, after 3 p.m. and were corrected by 3:14 p.m. The improper changes were initially made on Oct. 21, 2024, at 6:47 p.m., she testified.
She further testified that the office had developed a system to prevent individuals from making changes independently. Still, the system's technical limitations allowed the deputy clerk to act without authorization.
Further changes have been made to prevent call center workers from being able to access records to change them, Edwards said in testimony.
The state commission recommended that the Pulaski County Clerk’s Office be issued a letter of warning.
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