CAMDEN — At a N.L.R. voting area,
some given wrong ballot
NORTH LITTLE ROCK - A handful of North Little Rock voters received the wrong ballot on Tuesday morning, but there is no way of changing the incorrectly cast votes, a county election official said.
Arkansas Online states that a report came in to the Pulaski County Election Commission at about 8:20 a.m. that a few people voting at Sherman Park received ballots for Ward 1 instead of Ward 2, said Bryan Poe, the county elections director. The location is for people in either ward. Poe said staffers called the poll judge and asked her to talk to poll workers and sent an employee over to check on the situation about 20 minutes later, but the votes were already counted.
“The ones that are incorrectly cast, unfortunately there’s nothing we can do,” Poe said. He wasn’t sure how many votes may have been wrong, but said it was “fairly small.”
Linda Robinson, the incumbent city council candidate for Ward 2, said a couple came and told her they cast their votes, but she wasn’t on the ballot, so she called the commission. Ward 1 is not contested.
“When you’re running for office, every vote counts,” Robinson said. “ ... That’s two votes I lost.”
Kenneth Layton, who has been holding signs outside the location all day for Harlan Hunter, said his ballot was also for Ward 1. He lives in Ward 2 and wanted to vote for Hunter, who is running against Robinson.
“After I got through voting, I noticed he wasn’t on the ballot,” Layton said.
Layton said he asked a poll worker about the issue and got a new ballot before he cast his vote.
Foul play suspected in death of 60-year-old man
HOT SPRINGS - A 60-year-old man was found deceased at a residence early Sunday, and foul play is suspected in his death.
Shortly after 5 a.m., Garland County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a possibly deceased person at 110 Bayou Point. Deputy Shane Tatum located a body, a release from the sheriff’s office said.
“Foul play is suspected and we are treating this incident as a homicide,” Sheriff Mike McCormick told The Sentinel-Record on Monday.
The release said the department’s criminal investigation division was notified and investigators responded to process the scene for evidence. The body was sent to the state Crime Lab in Little Rock to determine the exact cause of death.
The name of the victim was not being released on Monday.
“The investigation is ongoing and more information will be released at a later date,” the release said.
CDC: 3 Arkansas kids have an illness like polio
LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Three Arkansas children have been diagnosed with a rare, polio-like illness that can cause paralysis in the arms and legs, according to federal and state health officials.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the diagnoses following an investigation into an increase in reported cases of acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM, the Arkansas Department of Health announced on Monday.
AFM was first discovered in 2014 and its symptoms include sudden arm or leg weakness, facial droop, difficulty swallowing and slurred speech.
Health authorities still don’t know how the condition is spread, what causes it or how to prevent it, said state epidemiologist Dr. Dirk Haselow.
The illness targets children between ages 4 and 5, Haselow said. It’s rare for those with the condition to completely regain their strength or mobility.
Haselow said the CDC “identified that the number of cases exceeds what has occurred in the previous couple years, and now they are putting a lot of resources to this to get to the bottom of it as fast as feasible.”
The CDC has confirmed that about 80 acute flaccid myelitis cases have been reported in 25 states this year. There were 33 reported cases last year, down from the 149 cases in 2016, according to the CDC.
Haselow said the condition has been linked with the West Nile virus and certain enteroviruses, with cases increasing in the fall and winter. But there hasn’t been one virus that explains the large cluster, he said.
“That’s sort of what makes this such a dramatic and frankly scary syndrome,” Haselow said.
“There’s not a vaccine against this. It isn’t entirely clear how people are getting it and why it’s focusing on children.”