Early voting begins Monday for preferential primary

LITTLE ROCK With no high-profile Senate or congressional races and the state's presidential primary a memory, election officials say they're not expecting turnout for this month's primaries and non-partisan judicial races to match the fervor of February's presidential race.

Early voting begins today for the May 20 party primaries and judicial races, three months after voters flooded the polls for a presidential primary that featured the state's former first lady and a former governor on the ballots.

Secretary of State Charlie Daniels said he's not expecting the high voter interest that the state saw in the Feb. 5 primary, which featured a 35 percent voter turnout. About 70,000 of the 544,170 voters who cast a ballot in February did so through early voting, Daniels' office said.

Daniels said that, with few high-profile races capturing the state's attention, he doubts the turnout among the state's roughly 1.6 million voters will be as high. The presidential primary featured former Gov. Mike Huckabee on the Republican ballot and former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton on the Democratic ballot.

"Unless you've got a really tough local race or election like sheriff or county judge or a really tight legislative race, I don't think you'll see the same types of numbers we saw in February," Daniels said.

Tight legislative races may be hard to find, though. Of 118 legislative seats that are on the ballot this year, there are only 18 contested Democratic primaries and nine Republican contests.

Among the high-profile primary contests are Senate District 33, which pits Sen. Irma Hunter Brown, D-Little Rock, against former state Rep. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock. Sen. Jim Luker, D-Wynne, also faces a primary fight in the Democratic primary from Rep. Denny Sumpter, D-West Memphis.

State House District 99, which includes Benton County, features a Republican primary fight between Vickey Boozman, the widow of former state Health Director Fay Boozman, and Tim Summers, who sits on the county's quorum court. Rep. Horace Hardwick, R-Bentonville, who holds the seat, cannot run again because of term limits.

House District 29, which includes Saline County, will feature primary contests on both sides.

Scott Smith, a senior managing partner of SKB Partners in Bryant and Mike Beckwith, a Benton business owner, are competing for the Democratic nomination in the district. The Republican contest features University of Arkansas at Little Rock political scientist Ann Clemmer, Acxiom Corp. analyst J. Brett Hooton and former Bryant City Council member Bud Lidzy.

The seat is currently held by Rep. Janet Johnson, D-Bryant, who is term limited.

The election will also feature three races for seats on the Arkansas Court of Appeals, highlighted by Judge Wendell Griffen's re-election bid for District 6, Position 1 on the 12-member court. He is opposed by Pulaski County Juvenile Court Judge Rita Gruber.

The Court of Appeals District 3, Position 2 race pits Fayetteville attorney Courtney Henry against Springdale attorney Ron Williams. In the District 7 race, Pine Bluff District Judge Waymond Brown faces Pine Bluff attorney Eugene Hunt.

Turnout may also be affected by the lack of any contested primaries for the state's four incumbent congressmen and the U.S. Senate seat held by Mark Pryor, who didn't draw any major party opponents for the primary or general election.