Arkansas early voting outpaces 2022
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About 277,000 ballots were cast in Arkansas during the first week of early voting.
Why it matters: That's about 15% of all registered voters in the state, with another week of early voting and Election Day remaining, according to the Arkansas Secretary of State's Office. The first week was Oct. 19 through Saturday.
- More than 1.84 million people are registered to vote in Arkansas.
Flashback: About 214,000 Arkansas voters cast their ballots during the first week of early voting in the midterm elections in 2022, Secretary of State's office spokesperson Samantha Boyd told Axios.
- That was about 12% of 1.8 million registered voters.
The latest: The Democratic Party of Arkansas launched a new voter protection hotline at 833-336-8683 for anyone who has questions or whose voting eligibility is questioned at the polls.
- The ACLU also lists hotlines in several languages.
- A photo ID is required to vote in Arkansas. Those who show up to vote without an ID can still cast provisional ballots, which must be certified to count.
The big picture: While early turnout can offer clues about enthusiasm, those casting ballots ahead of Election Day tend to be more politically engaged than the average American, making the data an unreliable predictor of final results, Axios' David Adkins and Herb Scribner write.
Zoom in: Northwest Arkansas is on par with the state, with just under 15% of registered voters having cast their ballot in Washington County and just over 15% in Benton County.
- In Washington County, 22,926 of 154,292 registered voters had cast their ballots through Saturday, according to Jennifer Price, executive director of the county's election commission. That's compared to 16,129 of 142,653 during the same period in 2022.
- In Benton County, 30,804 ballots were cast among the 204,425 registered voters, county election coordinator Kimberly Dennison told Axios. In 2022, 22,026 of the 181,382 registered voters cast ballots during the first week of early voting.
Go deeper: See our voter guide and your ballot ahead of time. Also, see your polling places and when they're open.