HB 1447 Gives SOS Complete Control of State Board of Election Commissioners
*** Please Vote No on HB 1447 ***
Attention, please, Legislators! HB_1447 will be coming up in the House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs on Wednesday, February 8, 2017 at 10:00 am in Room 151 of the State Capitol.
- HB 1447 For An Act To Be Entitled:
- AN ACT TO TRANSFER THE STATE BOARD OF ELECTION COMMISSIONERS TO THE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE; TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING COMPLAINTS OF ELECTION LAW VIOLATIONS; TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
This bad bill is a big maneuver to consecrate power in the hands of the few and is a convoluted, nasty piece of legislation that will restructure power in favor of the Secretary of State! This is national bill that was written out-of-state! This takeover is going on in Rhode Island, too!
This bill HAS to be stopped in committee! HELP!!!
Rep. Michelle Gray (R) AND Sen. Bart Hester (R) are the sponsors of this awful bill, but Secure Arkansas truly believes Rep. Michelle Gray is NOT aware of the damage and chaos that this thing will cause in our Arkansas government! We were at the Capitol today and did try to contact her, but alas, to no avail.
Our Major Concerns regarding HB 1447:
- Moves State Board of Election Commissioners from being independent commission to being a commission under the sole purview or influence of the Arkansas Secretary of State.
- Puts elected officials in charge of investigations of voting law violations – including those against the official’s political opponents.
- Removes power of Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioners to hire/fire its own independent director, elected official solely responsible for hiring and firing all staff of agency to conduct investigations of certain voting laws. Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioners can no longer terminate or change director.
- Director cannot hire staff; staff would be hired solely at authority of elected official and become at-will employees of elected official.
- Removes Attorney General’s employee as advisor to agency; replaced by at-will employee of Arkansas Secretary of State.
- Gives elected official the sole and exclusive power to close investigations by the board, without a vote of the board.
- Gives elected official complete control over entire budget of State Board of Election Commissioners with no review by the Board over any spending at any time.
- Republicans have control of this State Board of Election Commissioners currently (with a Republican Director and staff evenly split between parties), but control of the Board will now be at the control of a future Secretary of State – Democrat or Republican or other, depending on outcome of the next election.
This same type of centralized legislation was introduced by Senator Brian King (R) (ALEC member) during the 89th (2013) General Assembly as SB 722. The bill died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment on 5/17/2013.
Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioners
Each of the 75 counties in the State of Arkansas has an independent County Board of Election Commissioners responsible for conducting elections within its respective county. The County Boards' responsibilities include:
- altering the boundaries of existing election precincts,
- establishing new election precincts,
- establishing a polling site for each election precinct,
- selecting and appointing election officials,
- providing public notice of the time and polling sites for holding elections,
- providing public notice of the candidates and offices to be elected,
- providing ballots for absentee and early voting and voting on election day,
- providing election supplies to the election officials,
- completing a canvass of the returns of any election,
- certifying the results of elections, and
- providing a recount of the returns upon the petition of a candidate.
ACTION: Email and call the Representatives on the House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs ASAP, and tell them to VOTE NO on HB 1447. You may copy and paste the hyperlinked names below — they will become email addresses when you paste them into your “TO” in your email.
House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs
(Committee Members’ emails below are hyperlinked):
House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs — these are the same legislators listed above BUT includes their phone numbers so you may call them and tell them to VOTE NO on HB 1447:
Rep. Bob Ballinger, Chair and and has also attended ALEC meetings
870-350-5175 or 479-443-3700 District 97
Rep. Jack Ladyman, Vice-Chair 870-340-7499 District 59
Rep. Michelle Gray Sponsor HB 1447 870-291-2515 District 62
Rep. Jeff Wardlaw 870-226-9501 District 8
Rep. Kim Hammer 501-840-3841 District 28
Rep. Jon S. Eubanks ALEC member 479-438-0533 District 74
Rep. Douglas House 501-590-1055 District 40
Rep. Charlotte V. Douglas 479-430-0170 District 75
Rep. Jim Dotson ALEC member 479-222-1234 District 93
Rep. Josh Miller 501-365-3599 District 66
Rep. Richard Womack 870-403-6287 District 18
Rep. Andy Davis 501-837-5109 District 31
Rep. Warwick Sabin 501-372-4550 District 33
Rep. Kim Hendren 479-790-5600 District 92
Rep. R. Trevor Drown 479-857-2498 District 68
Rep. Dwight Tosh 870-926-0423 District 52
Rep. Justin Gonzales 870-245-6365 District 19
Rep. Kenneth B. Ferguson 870-413-8942 District 16
Rep. James Sturch 870-612-7589 District 63
Rep. Brandt Smith 870-351-7459 District 58
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You might also want to contact the other sponsor of this bad bill, Senator Bart Hester, at479-531-4176 and bart.hester@senate.ar.gov and tell him to pull his support from HB 1447 since it’s a bad piece of legislation.
House Switchboard: 501-682-6211 (to call and leave a message for the Representatives on this committee)
In closing this is just a little extra research:
THERE IS NO WAY TO TAKE BACK OUR ARKANSAS GOVERNMENT UNLESS YOU UNDERSTAND WHO IS PULLING THE STRINGS! Once again, it seems, all the players/actors, including our Arkansas Secretary of State (SOS), Mark Martin, are American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) members!
This takeover from Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) shadow government, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and National Association of Secretary of State (NASS) should start to sound alarm bells in your head! Do you see how they want to centralize government? NASS was founded in 1904, and all Secretaries of State are members. (This is NOT good, folks!) NASS serves as a PROGRESSIVE medium for exchange of information between states, and it fosters PROGRESSIVE cooperation in the development of public policy, the goal of which is to make all states the same. This organization also has corporate affiliates like ALEC. NASS works with federal, state, and local governments and various diabolical NGO groups.
One of the goals of the PROGRESSIVE National Association of Secretary of State (NASS) organizations is increased “social justice”. Social Justice is the redistribution of wealth in an attempt at equality. BUT this involves economic egalitarianism (PROGRESSIVE taxation, redistribution of wealth or income, or even redistribution of property) which is the driving force behind socialism and communism.
Don’t forget to make the calls and send those emails! Let’s take back our government!
Let us know what you hear back from the legislators!
Stay tuned, and stay informed!
Remember to SHARE this email and our website www.SecureArkansas.com with others!
Securing the blessings of liberty,
Secure Arkansas
SecureTheRepublic.com/Arkansas
info@securetherepublic.com
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