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.Still, monstrous differences persisted between the usual turnout11in Arkansas s Democratic and Republican primaries.In 1982, for example,12567,125 persons voted in the Democratic primary and only 13,147 in the[104], (10)13Republican.In most Arkansas counties, fewer than fifty people participated14in the Republican primary; and in some counties, no Republican primary15Lines: 164votes were cast at all.Another way of illustrating this imbalance is that in161982 Frank White won the Republican primary with 11,111 votes, exactly 171,796 fewer votes than the last-place candidate in the five-man Democratic 6.5pt Pg18 primary.In 1984 an increase in Republican turnout of nearly 50 percent still19Normal Paresulted in only 19,562 Republican primary voters as opposed to 492,59520PgEnds: TEvoters in the Democratic primary.21The major explanation for the ongoing disparity in primary turnout is22not a matter of formal party identification.Indeed, Arkansas voters have23[104], (10)consistently resisted any legal requirement for party registration.Rather,24Arkansas voters remained more likely to participate in the Democratic25primary because that was where the action was, where most state contests26and nearly all local contests (outside a few Ozark counties) were decided.In271986 only five counties had contested county or local races on the Republican28primary ballot.1729In the post Big Three era, turnout in the Democratic primary has dropped30precipitously: from slightly over 500,000 in the 1992 primary to 280,27331in the primary ten years later.In that 2002 cycle, the Republican Party32had its largest primary electorate in history although fewer than 100,00033voters participated.This clearly represents an additional sign of progress for34the gop.The primary race that gained the bulk of media attention during3536 the primary season in 2002 was in the Republican primary (a U.S.Senate37 primary between incumbent Tim Hutchinson and State Representative Jim38 Bob Duggar).County officials who had never done so before were forced39 to grapple with the mechanics of running a local Republican primary.When Dealigned Voters and Disadvantaged Political Parties 1051 confronting a gop candidate for justice of the peace a Ouachita County2 official said, We don t have an official procedure for filing.No one runs. 183 Although the gop s primary electorate remained centralized in northwest4 Arkansas, the affluent enclaves of Pulaski County, and in the suburbs of5 Little Rock, the increased gop turnout also shows that the changed electoral6 laws that enable citizens to vote in Republican primaries without driving7 to the county seat are paying dividends for the party.Another election8 law change discussed in chapter 10 that went into effect in 2002 also9 indirectly enhanced Republican turnout: the nonpartisan election of state10 judges at all levels meant that voters in many locales could vote Republican11 in the primary and still have a voice in judicial elections.12 The slight closing of the gap between Democratic and Republican primary[105], (11)13 participation in the most recent election cycles (caused mostly by the decline14 in Democratic participation) is significant.However, an even larger story is15 the shrinking of the primary electorate more generally.Though 49.4 percentLines: 180 to16 of Arkansas s registered voters participated in one of the two party primaries 17 in 1990, only 23.9 percent did so in 2002.This shows that, increasingly, the0.0pt PgV18 elections that matter inArkansas are now held in November rather than in late 19 May (since 1972 the date of the Arkansas primary elections) or three weeksNormal Page20 later in early June (in the subsequent runoff elections).It may be heresy toPgEnds: TEX21 the thousands of Arkansans who never miss an opportunity to vote (and, in22 rural Arkansas, an opportunity to socialize at the community voting site),23 but a sound argument can be made that those increasingly dealigned voters[105], (11)24 make a rational decision when they participate in democracy in Arkansas25 only in the general election.26 This dramatic change in the dynamics of state politics is most obvious27 in the elections for the highest-profile offices.In no governor s election28 since 1990 has there been a competitive primary on either the Republican or29 Democratic side.Though token opposition arose in most cases (the absence30 of opposition for Governor Tucker in 1994 was exceptional for a Democratic31 primary), in each of the three cycles it was clear before the filing period even32 opened who would be each party s standard bearer.But even lower on the33 ticket shifts are occurring.In the state legislature between 1968 and 199034 only 3.2 percent of state house races and 6.6 percent of state senate races were35 competitive (defined as the losing candidate receiving at least 40 percent of36 the vote) in November.In the elections in the 1990s (most of which occurred37 before term limits went into effect), the competitiveness rates for the state38 house jumped to 17.5 percent and to 19.5 percent in the senate
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