Arkansas elections board decertifies Searcy County election commissioners
State election regulators decertified all three members of the Searcy County Election Commission on Wednesday over allegations the commission accepted an equipment donation in violation of state rules.
The decertification means the election commissioners cannot work in any official election capacity for 14 years.
The State Board of Election Commissioners, per its rules, did not identify Searcy County or the election officials by name as it reviewed 10 possible violations of state election law and regulations, but election commissioners from Searcy County attended the meeting and confirmed afterward they were the subject of the board’s actions.
Searcy County was the only county to count ballots by hand last year. The county’s election officials used audio-visual equipment donated by the Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative to help observers monitor the vote counting. The nonprofit Voter Integrity Initiative unsuccessfully sued the state last year to get approval of a ballot measure that would require all elections in Arkansas to be conducted by hand-counted paper ballots.
https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2025/06/12/arkansas-elections-board-decertifies-searcy-county-election-commissioners