The Democratic Party of Arkansas is launching a voter protection hotline this election season. Party leaders and candidates met outside of Elmdale Baptist Church in Springdale on Thursday to launch the helpline. Megan Godfrey is a former state representative and political strategist for the party.
“We’re excited to be in Springdale, excited specifically to be at Elmdale Baptist just because the turnout is so high. We’re seeing really high numbers in Washington County specifically. I think I looked right before I came, I think it was about 45% up from the last midterm election.
“So we’re excited, you know, to capitalize on that momentum. Talk to voters who feel ready to vote, excited to vote, but who also may have questions about voting.”
The hotline 833-DEM-VOTE is available for anyone, regardless of party affiliation, to use during polling in case they are turned away, face intimidation or need other assistance. Abby Bunch is the voter protection coordinator for the Democrats and says they have not had any instances coming up yet during early voting.
“If somebody has a question about they thought that they were registered to vote, the person on the other end of that line can check their registration status, can double check and verify what polling location they’re supposed to be at or what times that those polling locations are available.
“If somebody is challenged, they know that they’re registered to vote, but they were challenged, they can walk them through the process of a provisional ballot to make sure that those people are voting. And any sort of question or concern that is coming up, we want people to talk to us. If we don’t know the answer, we’ll figure it out and we will call somebody back.”
Voter turnout continues to surpass the 2022 midterms in Benton and Washington counties. At the close of the polls on Saturday, nearly 31,000 voters in Benton County had cast their ballot. In Washington County, almost 23,000 voters had already cast their ballots. Early voting continues this week across the state.
Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
