Results for the primary runoffs — such as the GOP nomination for State Senate District 17 (State Rep. John Burris vs. Scott Flippo) and Attorney General (Leslie Rutledge vs. David Sterling) — will be announced tonight. If you haven’t already voted, maybe you should: your vote will matter more in a runoff election, when voter turnout is dramatically lower, than during primary and general elections.
The Burris/Flippo race will likely be a close one, with wide-ranging implications for the future of the “private” option — Arkansas’s version of Medicaid expansion. Burris led the passage of the program in the state House; Flippo opposes the program.
Nic Horton, who has been covering the policy and political aspects of the “private option” for a while now at The Arkansas Project, is on location in Mountain Home. If you want up-to-the-minute District 17 election results tonight, follow Nic on Twitter. The Rutledge/Sterling race also will probably come down to the wire. Much of the race recently has focused on whether Rutledge supports a “Stand Your Ground” law in Arkansas. Sterling supports such a measure, but Rutledge says current state law is sufficient enough, according to the Associated Press. The winner of the Republican AG runoff will face Democratic state Rep. Nate Steel and the Libertarian Party’s Aaron Cash in November. The state Senate runoff results will determine who holds the legislative seat. Follow me on Twitter for election results tonight for the AG’s runoff. According to the Arkansas Secretary of State’s Office on Tuesday morning, 23,235 have early voted in the primary runoffs. Polls are open today until 7:30 p.m.
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