LIZ FOX, KUAR NEWS
A national nonprofit has cited Arkansas for denying some residents the opportunity to register to vote.
Project Vote, an organization that fights for the rights of minority and low-income people, recently sent a letter to Secretary of State Mark Martin concerning the state’s non-compliance with the National Voter Registration Act. The letter outlines allegations against agencies that provide assistance like food stamps and Medicaid, accusing them of neglecting to offer voter registration services to their clients as required by law.
According to reports by the Election Assistance Commission, registrations per year have dropped by 86% since the law was implemented in 1993. However, Arkansas’ number of federal assistance applications has risen by 40%, meaning that the decrease in registration does not correlate with a decline in public assistance cases.
“It is clear that Arkansas has been violating the NVRA for years and neglecting tens of thousands of low-income residents as a result,” said Sarah Brannon, Director of the Public Agency Voter Registration Project at Project Vote. “Public agency registration reaches citizens who are unlikely to register through other means, so, in this important election year, it is vital that Arkansas is complying with the law.”
Project Vote and the local chapter of the NAACP are working hard to resolve the problem. Secretary of State spokesman Alex Reed referred calls to other agencies and said his office will investigate the complaints. READ MORE