On Nov. 14, 2024, South Arkansas Reckoning published the story of potential election law violations in the 2024 local, state and federal elections in Pulaski County.
The Reckoning's investigation continues to uncover more information related to the Pulaski County election and the county clerk's office. While investigating, questions continue to surface even now.
The backstory: The Reckoning first obtained documents related to a Pulaski County employee accessing and changing precinct data during early voting in October.
The Pulaski County Election Commissioners met before the 2024 general election. In that meeting, the commissioners discussed a possible ballot situation affecting four voters.
What led us to investigate deeper? A commissioner saying, "They didn't notify anybody that the race wasn't on their ballot so there was nothing that could be done about those four voters not being able to vote that election because they didn't tell anybody until after they put their vote in the machine."
Why would a voter carry that responsibility when they do not control the process of creating their ballot?
Indeed, a change by a county clerk employee did occur on the first day of early voting, Oct. 21, according to documents obtained and published in the Reckoning's original story on Nov. 14. Our investigation revealed to the public that the change could have affected 132 voters.
The precinct change was corrected on Oct. 23 at 3:12 p.m.
Pulaski County Clerk Terri Hollingsworth’s office gave documents, including a letter to the Pulaski County Election Commissioners, advising that the change had only affected four voters before it was remedied. The employee who made the change was relieved of her election duties, according to the letter.
Those four voters whose identities remain unknown were not given corrected ballots.
The Reckoning has repeatedly requested access to public records to review the early voting for other potential changes.
However, our requests have not been fulfilled. Therefore, our investigation continues.
America’s political battle for election integrity
Over the last 25 years, the United States's election process has come into question from both sides of the political aisle.
Let's start with 2000 and then Republican Texas Governor George W. Bush who ran against Vice President Al Gore, a Democrat. Remember “hanging chads" in Florida on paper ballots? The drama ended in a contentious recount that ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court had to settle. Bush won the presidency.
Who could forget the aftermath of the brutal 2016 showdown between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump? When the dust settled and Trump secured his victory, Clinton claimed Russian interference.
Clinton's claims led to a multi-year investigation that Trump labeled "Russia, Russia, Russia."
Fast-forward to 2020, and the roles reversed.
Trump would lose re-election to former Vice President Joe Biden. Trump fought against the election results. Allegations of election irregularities and outright fraud captivated the American air waves as lawsuits were filed in multiple swing states only to be dismissed.
The 2020 presidential election would forever be remembered as the most chaotic in our nation’s history – even more so than the 2000 election.
In 2024 Trump secured his second term as president after beating former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Now, the Trump Administration has taken decisive, and sometimes controversially stern action, on many issues since taking office. One of his most recent actions? Election integrity.
The Trump Administration issued an Executive Order on March 25 to establish trust and restore America’s elections.
“Free, fair, and honest elections unmarred by fraud, errors, or suspicion are fundamental to maintaining our constitutional Republic," the White House release states.
The extensive Executive Order goes further by requiring states to take action on many fronts.
For example, the Executive Order gives power to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi "to enter into information-sharing agreements, to the maximum extent possible, with the chief State election official or multi-member agency of each State. These agreements shall aim to provide the Department of Justice with detailed information on all suspected violations of State and Federal election laws discovered by State officials."
The information-sharing agreement would include information on individuals who "registered or voted despite being ineligible or who registered multiple times; committed election fraud; provided false information on voter registration or other election forms; intimidated or threatened voters or election officials; or otherwise engaged in unlawful conduct to interfere in the election process."
Compliance with Trump's Executive Order has the potential to increase pressure on Arkansas's elected officials about Pulaski County and its 2024 election.
How Trump's Executive Order could affect Arkansas
As first reported by the Reckoning, the Pulaski County Board of Election Commissioners narrowly certified the 2024 election.
Election Commissioners Sydney Rasch and David Scott voted in favor of certification while Commissioner Susan Meadors voted against certification.
Rasch and Scott left the commission this year. Republican Michael White ousted Scott, and Steve Harrelson, a Democrat, replaced Rasch.
At the Nov. 19 meeting, Pulaski County citizens filed complaints with the Election Commissioners over the precinct change that ultimately swapped ballots for voters during early voting. Citizen complaints contained public documents obtained by the Reckoning for its original reporting on Nov. 14 bearing the Reckoning's watermark logo, the lantern.
Also, as first reported by the Reckoning, the Pulaski County Board of Election Commissioners voted in favor of sending the citizen complaints to the Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioners, the Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney and Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin’s Election Integrity Unit.
On Dec. 3, the Reckoning received the following information from Jeff LeMaster, communications director for Griffin confirmed to the Reckoning “the allegations of election irregularities in Pulaski County has been referred to us by the Pulaski County Board of Election Commissioners, and we have opened an investigation. It was referred to us yesterday.”
The Reckoning continued keeping an eye on the Pulaski County Clerk’s office, the 2024 election and issues in the office. For example, in January, the computer systems in the clerk's office had major technical issues that affected day-to-day operations.
Newly obtained information raises more Pulaski County questions
Donnie Scroggins is a retired U.S. Army Reserve National Guard member who has a bachelor's degree in management information systems with an emphasis in DB Administration and Telecommunications. He also has master's degrees in political science and public administration with many hours toward his MBA degree.
Scroggins has been analyzing election data since 2020. He took an interest in the Pulaski County election and obtained copies of public records through the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act related to the 2024 election and the early voting debacle.
Those data records pose more questions than answers concerning what happened during early voting and the precinct change that launched an investigation into the 2024 election.
Let's examine what happened on Oct. 21 during early voting in Pulaski County.
That day, a Pulaski County employee logged into the county's voter registration/voter history database 47 minutes after the close of that day’s voting. The employee swapped precinct Pt051.02 to Precinct Pt001.04.
On Oct. 23, two days after the change, the clerk’s office received a call
that resulted in the discovery of the precinct swap.
On the afternoon of Oct. 23 another employee took remedial steps to correct the change and restore the correct voter precincts at 3:12 p.m.
Scroggins obtained records that appear to show that just three hours and 40 minutes later after the original correction was made, another change was made to Precinct Pt001.04.
Then, Precinct Pt.001.04 was changed to precinct Pt66.01 at 6:52 p.m. after the polls closed.
According to the file, one minute later the employee then swapped the precincts back. Look below.
Why? What happened, if anything, during these changes in the precincts? Should it have been reported?
To date no official report has been issued by the State Board of Election Commissioners concerning the original filed complaints in November into the 2024 Pulaski County Election.
