Election commissioners seek counsel on HS Mall polling site

The Sentinel-Record/Grace Brown CAMPAIGN HQ: The Garland County Republican Party Committee leased space in the Hot Springs Mall for its headquarters ahead of the Nov. 6 general election.
The Sentinel-Record/Grace Brown CAMPAIGN HQ: The Garland County Republican Party Committee leased space in the Hot Springs Mall for its headquarters ahead of the Nov. 6 general election.

The Garland County Election Commission expects to solicit guidance today from the state election board on whether a polling location at the Hot Springs Mall would violate electioneering laws.

Garland County Republican Party Committee headquarters is also at the mall, but Gene Haley, chairman of the county's election commission, said Tuesday that the commission thinks the polling location and committee office can coexist under the same roof without violating the election code.

Electioneering within 100 feet of the entrance to a polling place or inside the same building where votes are cast is prohibited by state law. The headquarters is more than 100 feet away from the voting location on the northwest side of the mall, Haley said.

"We think the intent of that law was for courthouses, to keep people from campaigning in front of the courthouse," Haley said. "The big question is whether the mall is a building or a group of buildings connected together. We're going to ask the state election board, but as far as we're concerned it's a bunch of buildings hooked together."

Haley said the polling place may have to be moved if its proximity to Republican headquarters draws a court challenge or becomes the subject of a formal complaint. He said the commission has asked the party to use a different entrance than the one nearest the polling site.

"There's been no official complaints, but we have had some inquiries," he said. "If they push the issue, that's fine. We'll just move. We're not paying rent at the mall. The mall donates the space to us. The Republican Party is paying rent. If one has to leave, I suspect it will be us."

County Republican Party Chairman Matt McKee said the committee began leasing the mall location in July. It had been meeting at the First Church of the Nazarene after its previous headquarters in the 600 block of Ouachita Avenue changed ownership last year.

"The election commission told the Republican Party it had zero issues with the headquarters being at the mall," said McKee, District 9 justice of the peace. "It's more than 250 feet from the polling place. Before we moved in, we were told it wouldn't be a problem.

"The distance between the headquarters and polling location was said to be sufficient. I don't think anybody thought it would be a big deal being that far away from the polling location."

McKee said the committee's lease runs through November.

The mall was added as an early voting location and Election Day vote center when Hot Springs Memorial Field became unavailable before the preferential primary elections in May. The commission began looking for a replacement as conspicuous to the public as the airport after Southern Airways moved into the space the commission used as a polling site during the 2016 elections.

The 1,239 ballots cast at the mall during early voting in May made it the third most frequented of the county's four early voting sites.

"I suspect we're probably going to have to move," Haley said. "But you can't fault the Republicans. They asked us about moving over there, and we didn't have any problem with it."

Oct. 8 is the voter registration deadline for the Nov. 6 general election. Early voting begins Oct. 22.

Local on 09/05/2018

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