Lagrone Criticizes Daniels

Go JIM! Republican Secretary of State Candidate Jim Lagrone says Secretary of State Charlie Daniels has failed to do enough to make sure that the out-of-state votes of Arkansas military personnel get counted.
Daniels caught flak from his Republican challenger at the end of a news conference to announce "Armed Forces Voting Week" next week in Arkansas. Daniels, who is seeking a second term, was urging armed forces members Thursday to vote when rival Jim Lagrone and his son criticized Daniels, saying the secretary of state hasn't done enough to make sure that military votes are counted. Lagrone cited a federal report as proof. that a number of military voters were disenfranchised in the 2004 presidential election. Lagrone declared that Daniels has been "AWOL," absent without leave, when it comes to the military vote.

Also Lagrone criticized Daniels for the operation of the spring primary and runoff elections. The state Board of Election Commissioners says the elections using of electronic voting machines cost Arkansas about $600,000 more than previous elections. Lagrone blamed the additional costs on the state choosing Election Systems & Software as its vendor for touch-screen voting machines. Now the Election Commission Board says they will need an additional $2 million for elections next year. "It just shows there's no planning going on and there's no foresight going on," Lagrone said. "They're just reacting to issues."