The day after any election typically brings questions. THV11's verify team is working to answer a few Arkansans are asking today.
Chris Powell, a spokesman for the Arkansas Secretary of State's office has the answers.
Let's start with the Little Rock Mayor's race. As you know multiple candidates, five in this case, and a very close finish for much of the night as the results rolled in, with Frank Scott Junior in the lead, followed closely by Baker Kurrus and Warwick Sabin.
Sabin then conceded, leaving the final results with Scott Jr. at 37 percent of the vote, followed by Kurrus at 29 percent. This results in a runoff, and THV11 viewers want to know why.
Why is 40 percent the magic number?
"There's a state law that regulates runoffs," said Powell. "It depends on what office you're running for. In a municipal race, it's a candidate who gets majority of the votes. If you get 40 percent and are 20 percent ahead of the next person, then there won't be a runoff. Since this election was tight, it triggers a runoff. These rules are the same for every state in Arkansas, and it applies to municipal races. There are different rules on constitutional offices, legislation, legislators and school boards. Most of those are the ones with the highest number of votes."
Another question we've been asked is about voter turnout. The midterm election yesterday was hyped to be a game-changer, with predictions of high voter turnout.
What was the Arkansas voter turnout?
"It was a typical turnout," said Powell. "In midterms, generally it's about 50 percent, as of now we are at 49 percent. Which is in line with the last 3 midterms. We had more people vote, but percentage wise it was pretty typical. We did have 50 percent early voting, which is a higher number than we usually see. Normally we see more people voting on election day, but that changed with the convenience of early voting."
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