More polling locations could help alleviate long lines, but a lack of voting machines remains the biggest obstacle to unsnarling the backup voters contended with during primary voting in May, the Garland County Election Commission said last week.
The commission weighed the effect of adding to the 24 polling places available for the preferential primary and nonpartisan judicial general election May 20, determining it would have a mostly negligible effect on facilitating voter flow while spreading thin the county's inadequate supply of electronic voting machines.
An additional location on Malvern Avenue was discussed, but Chairwoman Ginna Watson said the commission hasn't been able to find one. Sulpher Springs Missionary Baptist Church, at 4340 Malvern Ave., is the only polling site in the Lakeside area in east Garland County.
The commission considered reallocating voting assignments, creating more balance among polling locations. Citing the more than 5,400 voters assigned to Lake Hamilton Assembly of God Church, 2251 Airport Road, Watson said several locations have too many voters.
"Even if we put up five (electronic voting machines), if you've got 5,000 people coming into one location to vote it's still not enough," she told the commission. "It's either increase the equipment for those locations or get another location to reduce the number of registered voters."
Commissioner Dennis Bosch said a lack of equipment is the more pronounced problem. Voters reported several polling places were limited to one machine during the May 20 primary, including the Grove Church, 1010 Shady Grove Road, and the Malvern Avenue location. More than 6,500 voters are assigned to the two locations, according to a breakdown provided by the county clerk's office.
Watson said the county has 45 operational iVotronic electronic voting machines after the commission used a credit balance to purchase an additional unit earlier this month. Mechanical problems on election day reduced that number. Bosch said battery problems were the primary issue.
"The batteries were dropping below the acceptable voltage for them to run. It was really a battery voltage problem," said Bosch, noting that the batteries were replaced prior to the June 10 runoff election. Watson said the commission has purchased replacement batteries for all the machines.
Problems with iVo printers that produce the paper backups of electronic votes also hampered several machines, preventing them from working on election day. Bosch said paper tape sticking to the rollers disabled the printers, explaining that election workers loaded the paper tape without tearing off glue-laden segments that adhered to the rollers.
"People get in a hurry, and they don't tear off enough," he said. "When we had training, we emphasized like crazy, 'Tear off a lot of it. Don't worry about it.'"
Watson said Friday that the commission is still waiting for written approval from the secretary of state's office on a revision to the 2014 Voting System Grant request. The commission decided earlier this month to use the $14,340 grant to purchase more iVotronic machines after initially requesting terminals that maintain electronic registration records.
The commission estimated at its July 11 meeting that the grant would pay for five or six iVotronic machines, but Watson said Friday that it could possibly purchase additional units. She said Rob Hammons, the elections division director for the secretary of state, advised asking ES&S, the state's election equipment vendor, for the "state contract cost."
The secretary of state's office didn't provide information Tuesday on election equipment pricing. The commission paid $2,524, including shipping and taxes, for the iVotronic machine it purchased earlier this month.
The commission also discussed how to prepare for the prospect of reduced precinct sizes. Act 1211 passed in 2013 by the state Legislature limits precinct size to 3,000 voters. Watson said she's heard that the next General Assembly will consider legislation shrinking precinct size to 1,200 voters. According to information provided by the county clerk's office, 12 of the county's 154 precincts contain more than 1,200 voters.
Most of the larger ones are in western and northern Garland County. The two biggest precincts are off of U.S. 70 West, west of the Hot Springs city limits. The commission would have to redraw precinct lines if the law changes.
The commission announced Friday that Lakeside, Lake Hamilton and the Cutter Morning Star school boards have requested only early and absentee voting for the Sept. 16 school board elections. The Mountain Pine School Board requested early and absentee voting, with election day voting to be held at the school.
The Hot Springs School Board requested early and absentee voting, with election day voting at the Webb Community Center and Jones School. Fountain Lake's board requested early and absentee voting, and that election day voting be held at the school and Village Bible Church for Garland County voters and the Balboa Baptist Church and Crows Station for Saline County voters.
All the schools requested that early voting, beginning Sept. 9, be limited to the election commission office on Ouachita Avenue. The commission said Jessieville had yet to submit its election request.
Earlier this month the commission announced that the Garland County Library will not request a special election seeking a mill increase.
Local on 07/23/2014