Arkansas state executive official elections, 2018
- General election: Nov. 6
- Voter registration deadline: Oct. 9
- Early voting: Oct. 22 - Nov. 5
- Absentee voting deadline: Nov. 5
- Online registration: No
- Same-day registration: No
- Voter ID: Photo ID required (preliminary injunction issued on April 26, 2018)
- Poll times: 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
2022 →
← 2014
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| Arkansas state executive official elections |
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| Election details |
| Filing deadline: March 1, 2018 |
| Primary: May 22, 2018 Primary runoff: June 19, 2018 (if needed) General: November 6, 2018 |
| How to vote |
| Poll times: 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Voting in Arkansas |
| Ballotpedia analysis |
| Federal and state primary competitiveness State executive elections in 2018 Impact of term limits in 2018 State government trifectas and triplexes |
| Other state executive elections |
The following state executive offices were up for election in Arkansas in 2018:
Governor
Lieutenant governor
Attorney general
Secretary of state
Auditor
Treasurer
Public lands commissioner
Context of the 2018 elections
Party control in Arkansas
A state government trifecta is a term that describes single-party government, when one political party holds the governor's office and has majorities in both chambers of the legislature in a state government. Republicans in Arkansas gained a state government trifecta as a result of the 2014 elections, when they recaptured the governor's office and retained control of the state legislature. Democrats had trifectas in the state from 1992 to 1997 and 2007 to 2013.
Arkansas Party Control: 1992-2026
Eleven years of Democratic trifectas • Twelve years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.
| Year | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governor | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| Senate | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| House | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
Voter information
How the primary works
A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Arkansas utilizes an open primary system. Registered voters do not have to be members of a party to vote in that party's primary.[1][2]
For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.
Poll times
Registration requirements
Voter ID requirements
Early voting
Arkansas permits early voting. Learn more by visiting this website.
Early voting allows citizens to cast their ballots in person at a polling place before an election. In states that permit no-excuse early voting, a voter does not have to provide an excuse for being unable to vote on Election Day. States that allow voters to cast no-excuse absentee/mail-in ballots in person are counted as no-excuse early voting states.
Forty-seven states and the District of Columbia permit no-excuse early voting. Alabama, Mississippi, and New Hampshire do not offer no-excuse early voting.
Absentee voting
Arkansas voters are eligible to vote absentee/mail-in in an election if they cannot make it to the polls on Election Day for one of the following reasons:[3]
- The voter will be "unavoidably absent" from his or her polling location on Election Day.
- The voter is physically unable to visit his or her polling location on Election Day due to illness or physical disability.
- The voter is a member of the armed services, merchant marines, or is the spouse or dependent of such an individual and "are away from your polling location due to the member’s active duty status."
- The voter is temporarily living outside the United States.
To vote absentee/mail-in, a request must be received by elections officials either seven days before the election (if submitted by mail or fax), by the Friday before the election (if submitted in person), or by 1:30 p.m. on the day of the election if an authorized agent makes the request for a voter confined in a hospital or nursing home. The deadline to return an absentee/mail-in ballot is by close of business the Friday before the election if returned in person, or 7:30 p.m. on Election Day if submitted by mail or by an authorized agent. Military and overseas voters must complete their ballot by Election Day, and they must be received by their county clerk by 5:00 p.m., 10 days after the election.[3][4]
Impact of term limits
Seven state executive seats in Arkansas were up for election in 2018. In the 2018 elections, two officials were ineligible to run because of term limits. The following state officials were term-limited in 2018:
Republicans (2):
- Secretary of State: Mark Martin
- Commissioner of State Lands: John Thurston
Of the 283 state executives offices on the ballot in 2018, 131 of them were represented by incumbents who were subject to term limits. Of the 36 gubernatorial seats up for election in 2018, 13 governors—two Democrats and 11 Republicans—were term-limited and therefore unable to run for re-election. Of the 31 states with term limits that held state executives elections in 2018, some incumbents in 18 of the states were term-limited.
A total of 49 state executive officials were ineligible to run in the 2018 elections because of term limits. This represented 17 percent of the 283 total seats up for election in 2018.[5] Republicans had more than six times as many state executive officials term-limited in 2018 than Democrats. A total of seven Democrats were term-limited, while 40 Republicans were term-limited. The other two term-limited officials were nonpartisan.
Past elections
2016
There were no state executive elections in Arkansas in 2016.
2014
The following elections took place in 2014.
- Arkansas down ballot state executive elections, 2014
- Arkansas gubernatorial election, 2014
- Arkansas Attorney General election, 2014
- Arkansas lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2014
- Arkansas Secretary of State election, 2014
- Arkansas state executive official elections, 2014
2012
There were no state executive elections in Arkansas in 2012.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Arkansas state executive election 2018. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
State profile
| Demographic data for Arkansas | ||
|---|---|---|
| Arkansas | U.S. | |
| Total population: | 2,977,853 | 316,515,021 |
| Land area (sq mi): | 52,035 | 3,531,905 |
| Race and ethnicity** | ||
| White: | 78% | 73.6% |
| Black/African American: | 15.5% | 12.6% |
| Asian: | 1.4% | 5.1% |
| Native American: | 0.6% | 0.8% |
| Pacific Islander: | 0.2% | 0.2% |
| Two or more: | 2.1% | 3% |
| Hispanic/Latino: | 6.9% | 17.1% |
| Education | ||
| High school graduation rate: | 84.8% | 86.7% |
| College graduation rate: | 21.1% | 29.8% |
| Income | ||
| Median household income: | $41,371 | $53,889 |
| Persons below poverty level: | 22.9% | 11.3% |
| Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Arkansas. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here. | ||
Presidential voting pattern
- See also: Presidential voting trends in Arkansas
Arkansas voted Republican in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.
Pivot Counties (2016)
Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, one is located in Arkansas, accounting for 0.5 percent of the total pivot counties.[6]
Pivot Counties (2020)
In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Arkansas had one Retained Pivot County, 0.55 percent of all Retained Pivot Counties.
More Arkansas coverage on Ballotpedia
- Elections in Arkansas
- United States congressional delegations from Arkansas
- Public policy in Arkansas
- Endorsers in Arkansas
- Arkansas fact checks
- More...
See also
| Arkansas | State Executive Elections | News and Analysis |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ LexisNexis, "Ark. Stat. Ann. § 7-7-307," accessed November 19, 2025
- ↑ LexisNexis, "Ark. Stat. Ann. § 7-7-308," accessed November 19, 2025
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Arkansas Secretary of State, "Absentee Voting," accessed November 19, 2025
- ↑ Arkansas Secretary of State, "Military and Overseas Citizens," accessed November 19, 2025
- ↑ Some of the 49 state executive officials in 2018 may have resigned before their term ended. These state executive officials were still counted in the total number of term-limited state executives in 2018.
- ↑ The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
