Arkansas election commissioners reprimand fourth Searcy County election worker in two days

Arkansas’ State Board of Election Commissioners reprimanded a North Arkansas poll worker Thursday in its third meeting in three days.

Loretta Milam, who worked at Searcy County’s Witts Springs polling site during the November 2024 elections, faced allegations of electioneering. The state’s poll worker training guide defines electioneering as “the display of or audible dissemination of information that advocates for or against any candidate, issue or measure on a ballot” within 100 feet of a polling site.

The state election board voted 4-1, with dissent from commissioner James Harmon Smith, to accept the charge against Milam based on “a preponderance of evidence” from Thursday’s testimony.

Milam allegedly expressed her opinion about a measure on the 2024 ballot that repealed a Pope County casino license. She told the state election board that she had family members who were likely to get jobs at the casino if it were built, and election monitor Melissa Jackson told the board she overheard Milam saying this to a voter outside the polling site.

The voter, Colton Moore, testified on Milam’s behalf. He said he expressed excitement about the possibility of the casino being built because it would give him work as a carpenter. Milam “stayed neutral and did not say anything,” Moore said.

Milam said she remembered her encounter with Moore, but not if she said anything back to him. Her attorney, Clint Lancaster, said the state board should not fault Milam’s memory.

North Arkansas election commissioners reprimanded but not decertified over election law breaches

“If you find that Miss Milam committed electioneering without the state having gone well beyond the bare minimum, I think it would be a travesty,” said Lancaster, who also represented the Searcy County Election Commission during Wednesday’s state board hearing.

All three county commissioners received letters of reprimand for two charges of violating state election laws: accepting expensive audiovisual equipment for a fraction of the cost, which the state board said counted as an improper gift, and failing to post a full list of election workers in a public space in the county clerk’s office at least eight days before Election Day.

The state board declined to decertify the commissioners from participating in future elections or to accept two other charges against them. The board had previously voted to decertify the commissioners, but the commissioners appealed that decision, resulting in Wednesday’s hearing.

Commissioners Jamie Clemmer and Johnathan Williams supported decertifying Milam for four years in addition to issuing her a letter of reprimand, but the rest of the board rejected this proposal. The board agreed unanimously to give Milam solely a letter of reprimand.

On Wednesday, the board dismissed a complaint against Ellen Griffin, a Searcy County poll supervisor who was falsely accused of discouraging voters from using provisional ballots. Lancaster also served as Griffin’s legal counsel.

None of Lancaster’s sanctioned clients have decided to appeal the state board’s decisions as of Thursday morning, he said.