LITTLE ROCK—The Senate voted Thursday to allow a lawmaker to keep his seat in the chamber despite accepting a panel’s finding that his 2006 electoral victory was marred by ballot fraud and voting problems.

By a 19-12 vote, the Senate voted to allow Sen. Jack Crumbly to keep his seat, but called on state and federal authorities to investigate claims of voter fraud and irregularities in the June 13, 2006, Democratic runoff for an eastern Arkansas district.

A special prosecutor said after the vote that he is investigating whether criminal actions occurred in the runoff election two years ago.

It was the first time in 34 years that the Senate had been faced with possible ouster of one of its members. The last such case resulted in expulsion of a member who had been convicted of a felony in federal court.

The recommendation to allow Crumbly to keep his seat came from the Senate Agencies and Governmental Affairs committee in April after hearing claims of ballot fraud and voting problems in Crumbly’s victory over former state Rep. Arnell Willis in the 2006 runoff for Senate District 16. The legislative panel voted 4-3 to recommend not ousting Crumbly, but unanimously declared that fraud existed in the election.

Crumbly, D-Widener, said he was pleased with Thursday’s vote and believed that would remove any questions that people may have had in the Senate or in his district about his ability to serve.

“I’d like to ask for unity now, regardless of how people voted,” Crumbly said.

Crumbly attended Thursday’s meeting but abstained from voting.

He won the Senate District 16 seat by 68 votes. Willis was initially declared the winner but Crumbly was declared the victor after a recount. He did not face a Republican opponent in the fall.

The report issued by the legislative panel said there was no evidence that Crumbly was involved in any of the alleged fraud in the runoff election.

Sen. Tracy Steele, D-North Little Rock, told fellow senators he believed there were problems with the 2006 runoff election. But Steele said it would be wrong to remove Crumbly when there was no proof that he did anything wrong.

“The only thing that Senator Crumbly did was he decided to run for the Arkansas state Senate,” Steele said.

Sen. Bobby Glover, D-Carlisle, agreed that Crumbly had done nothing wrong. But Glover said the election was “crooked” and that the senator should not be able to keep his seat.

Glover afterward said he believed the Senate damaged its credibility by allowing Crumbly to remain.

“I think there’s always going to be a cloud there over him,” Glover told reporters after the vote. “I think there will always be a cloud over the Senate because of the actions that were taken here today.”

Removing a sitting senator requires a 2/3 vote of the 35-member chamber. The last time the Senate removed one of its own was in 1974, when Sen. Guy H. “Mutt” Jones Sr. of Conway was voted out of the Senate after his conviction for filing false tax returns.

More recently, former state Sen. Nick Wilson of Pocahontas resigned in December 1999 following his conviction on federal tax evasion charges. An effort had been mounted to oust Wilson from the Senate when he wouldn’t resign immediately.

In Crumbly’s case, lawmakers heard claims of missing ballot stubs, forged ballot signatures or discrepancies in vote totals. The hearings and Thursday’s vote mark the first time the Senate has been called upon to settle an election dispute.

Willis’ attorney claimed that as many as 881 votes in the race should be thrown out because of questions over their legitimacy. Crumbly’s attorneys have said at most 30 ballots are in question in the race.

Willis called the Senate vote disappointing and said Crumbly should be ashamed to sit in the chamber.

“Jack Crumbly didn’t win. Jack Crumbly stole an election and the system let me down,” Willis said.

Special prosecutor H.G. Foster attended Thursday’s vote and said afterward that he was appointed last month by Circuit Judge Harvey Yates to investigate whether there was any criminal wrongdoing related to the June 2006 runoff.

“As far i’m concerned I’m starting from scratch. But for me, scratch is the reprots from the hearings and the transcripts,” Foster said.