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The Baxter County Board of Election Commissioners will hold an emergency meeting today to recount ballots from the Republican primary runoff for Arkansas secretary of state, a race decided by fewer than 1,000 votes statewide.
The recount is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Baxter County Election Commission Office, 215 E. Fifth St. A post-election audit originally scheduled for Friday morning will now be conducted in conjunction with the recount, according to Lindsay Roberts, the county’s election coordinator.
The emergency meeting follows a formal recount petition filed by Bryan Norris, a retired Army first sergeant and project manager from Batesville, who lost to state Sen. Kim Hammer of Benton in Tuesday’s runoff. Norris’ campaign said it has filed recount petitions in multiple counties across the state.
Unofficial results from the secretary of state’s office show Hammer received 40,920 votes, or 50.57%, to Norris’ 40,002. The margin of roughly 918 votes out of nearly 81,000 cast made it one of the tightest statewide races in recent Arkansas history.
Hammer won fewer counties than Norris, taking 37 to his opponent’s 38. Norris carried Baxter County by less than 2 percentage points.
Arkansas does not have automatic recounts. Under state law, a candidate may request and pay for a recount, with costs refunded if the outcome changes.
The runoff was required after no candidate secured a majority in the March 3 primary, which also included Miller County Judge Cathy Hardin Harrison. Norris finished first in that contest, edging Hammer by less than a point.
Hammer flipped the result in the runoff after securing endorsements from Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton and incumbent Secretary of State Cole Jester. Norris ran as a political outsider with backing from former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and MyPillow founder Mike Lindell.
The race drew nearly a quarter-million dollars in combined candidate spending and additional six-figure expenditures from outside groups. Arkansas Conservatives, a group tied to Sanders senior adviser Chris Caldwell, reported spending more than $300,000 on mailers opposing Norris.
The two candidates clashed over election administration, with Norris advocating for hand-counted paper ballots in all elections and Hammer defending the state’s existing tabulation systems. Hammer authored a 2023 law requiring hand-counted ballots to be compatible with electronic tabulation equipment and placing associated costs on counties that choose to count by hand.
Norris came under fire during the campaign for past social media posts, including comments directed at Cotton and posts suggesting Israel was involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He acknowledged using what he called “salty language” but said he did not recall writing some of the posts.
Jester, who was appointed secretary of state by Sanders to fill a vacancy left by John Thurston’s resignation, publicly called on Norris to drop out over the posts. Jester is ineligible to run for the office in 2026.
If the recount does not change the outcome, Hammer will advance to the November general election against Democrat Kelly Grappe of Rose Bud and Libertarian Michael Pakko of Roland. No Democrat has won statewide office in Arkansas since 2010.
The secretary of state serves as the state’s chief elections officer and oversees business filings and the state Capitol grounds.
