A lawsuit has been filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court opposing the Jefferson County Electoral Commission, along with Commissioners Mike Adam, Ted Davis, and Stu Soffer, alleging that the closure of a polling station in District Four of the Missionary Baptist Church of New Town was done illegally.
The lawsuit filed on September 11 through Ward four resident Walter Johnson and Ward four councillors Steven Mays and Bruce Lockett.
Adam and Soffer were also named in an ethics complaint filed through the Arkansas Democratic Party with the state’s Board of Election Commissioners regarding a number of voting groups that he said were conducted illegally and on a series of public comments through Soffer who said they were abusive. offensive.
One of the accusations in demand is that Soffer and Adam incorrectly closed three polling stations in African-American neighborhoods, adding New Town. The resolution on two of these sites, the Old Morning Star Baptist Church in Packingtown and the Pine Bluff Administrative Building, annulled at an assembly on August 18 as a commitment to Commissioner Theodis “Ted” Davis. Davis had refused to allow the transfer of the Swan Lake Community Center voting site to the Swan Lake Fire Department, which Adam and Soffer said more in accordance with the needs of the U. S. Disability Act until the resolution to close polling places is reconsidered.
It is the consolidation of the Missionary Baptist Church in New Town with methodist Church St. St. Luke as a polling place in district four which makes Mays and Lockett feel unhappy, either claiming it’s an attempt to suppress votes in their neighborhood. Dollarway Road is 2. 5 km away.
“We believe that our voters in this network are being repressed and have no right to vote on their own network,” Mays said. “We have other people who can cross the street, ride a motorcycle to get to the polling station and now they have to pass four or five miles from St. Luke’s, and it’s not fair to the other people in this region. “
Adam and Soffer argued that the explanation for the closure of New Town as a polling place similar to low turnout, as only 49 registered electorates of more than three hundred on the ride served through the site voted in the March number one election.
“Suppress the vote, that’s my opinion,” Mays said. “Here, 50 days, 40 days before the elections, it has never been done like this. This has been done last year in 2019. To do it now, this is a very vital choice. “
Lockett defied the overthrow of two polling stations, but the third.
“One in District 1, the other in District 2, but here in District 4, they chose not to do the same,” he said. “The economy is not a challenge because the state reimburses them for the costs of elections. it’s not a question of economics, we can spend as much as we need.
“I think most of the committee has just said that out of three polling stations, we’ll reopen two, but the third, we just have to be stubborn. “
Lockett stated that he did not perceive the reason for the closure of New Town while agreeing to reopen the other two sites.
“I don’t know the dynamics of why the other two opened, however, my position is that if they took the decision to reopen those other two, why not the three of them?This is where rubber meets the road because there is no economic barrier to Opening. City Nueva. No I see no other justification for not reopening New Town other than that they simply chose not to. “
Mays said the consolidation had baffled many voters affected by the replacement and that he had won calls from the electorate asking why he closed the electoral college, but said his real concern is what can happen on Election Day when voters who are unaware of the replacement show to vote.
“Not everyone knows New Town is closed,” he said. “Not everyone reads the paper, Facebook or Instagram. You’re going to confuse other people, and that’s what I mean by suppressing the vote. The Republican-led Electoral Commission seeks to confuse confusion. “
District 1 Councilwoman Joni Alexander, who argued at the Aug. 18 assembly for keeping polling stations open as a measure to help involve the spread of Covid-19, said she agreed that New Town should be left open, but did not agree that the closure was made. as a way to suppress votes.
“I don’t think [voter suppression] can be used as an argument when their argument is low participation,” Alexander said. “If one of our busiest voters puts it on and closed it, I think it would make the most legitimate argument, however, I think the other people who will pursue it will see it on the basis of their justification for closing it due to low participation.
“When you can’t produce anything like voter suppression, you have to be careful,” Alexander continued. “Basically you can belittle your argument. Even if you think voter suppression is happening but you can’t solve it, you should be careful with the prosecution because in the long run if you want to eliminate voter suppression it’s still diluting its argument, this can be a problem. “