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Senate to meet June 12 to hear case of disputed election Friday, May 9, 2008 Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The state Senate has scheduled a historic meeting June 12 to decide whether a senator who won a disputed election can keep his seat. A Senate committee recommended last month, after three days of hearings and 15 hours of closed-door deliberations, that Sen. Jack Crumbly, D-Widener, should be allowed to remain in the Senate. The panel, however, concluded there were serious irregularities in the 2006 District 16 state Senate race. Sen. Steve Faris, D-Malvern, chairman of the seven-member Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs, said Thursday the June 12 date was selected after a meeting with Sen. Pro Tem. Jack Critcher, D-Batesville. "All the senators have been provided the committee's report and the transcripts," Faris said, adding he expected the June meeting to take at least one full day. "Even though they have the report, they may have a lot of questions." It takes a two-thirds vote in the 35-member Senate to oust a member. Former state Rep. Arnell Willis of Helena-West Helena appeared to have won the 2006 runoff against Crumbly, the Earle school superintendent, after the initial vote count showed Willis ahead by 28 votes. However, a recount put Crumbly ahead by 68 votes, and a second recount confirmed Crumbly as the winner. No Republican sought the office, and Crumbly was seated in January 2007. Willis filed a lawsuit in St. Francis County Circuit Court challenging the election results. A special circuit judge ruled in February that the Legislature, not the courts, should decide who should occupy the Senate seat. For three days in late March the Senate committee, charged with deciding whether there was voter fraud and whether that voter fraud was enough to expel Crumbly, heard testimony. Willis' attorney, Mike Easley of Forrest City, said during the hearing that evidence brought into question about 800 votes, while Crumbly's attorney, Robin Carroll of El Dorado, said less than 30 votes were questionable. |
