Voter Intent and Ballot Remake, 7 CAR pt. 92

The State Board of Election Commissioners amends the Voter Intent rule to “Voter Intent and Ballot Remake” to bring the Rule into compliance with changes made by Act 458 of 2025. Act 458 of 2025 directed the State Board of Election Commissioners to promulgate 19 rules necessary for the duplication of damaged or defective ballots permitted by A.C.A. § 7-5-615. The Act also allows counties to report the number of outstanding ballots requiring remaking as part of the election night reporting to the Secretary of State’s Office. The purpose of this is to permit the County to follow State Board guidance in the mechanical process of remaking damaged or defective ballots. The proposed Rule directs that at least four election officials sign off on or agree the duplicate ballot is a true duplicate of the originally voted ballot. Further, the Rule allows poll watchers and candidates to inspect any duplicated ballot before it is processed through the DS200. The purpose of these procedures is to ensure that each duplicated ballot is a complete and true duplicate of the originally voted ballot. The State Board offered the amendments to the Voter Intent Rule to include requirements mandated by Act 458 of 2025. During the public meeting of the State Board on September 10, 2025, the proposed rule was added as an item on the agenda. A motion was made and approved to amend the proposal to require the election supervisor to be a member of the County Board of Election Commissioners. The attached proposal incorporates that slight modification, thereby requiring a CBEC member be present during remakes and that the CBEC member is the supervisor over the remaking process.

No public hearing was held on this rule. The period expired September 15, 2025. The board indicated that it received no public comments.

• ALC summary agenda Oct 16, 2025
• ALC agenda Oct 16, 2025
• ALC meeting video Oct 16, 2025
• Arkansas Register, November 2025