State election board weighs use of mall as polling site

The attorney for the Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioners said Thursday the county has a legitimate argument for using the Hot Springs Mall as a polling location, but that he isn't ready to make a pronouncement to that effect.

Daniel Shults said having a polling place in the same building as Garland County Republican Party Committee headquarters is an unusual circumstance. The county party committee began leasing space in the mall in July. Electioneering within 100 feet of the entrance to a polling place or inside the same building where votes are cast is prohibited by the state election code.

Garland County Election Commission Chairman Gene Haley asked the state board for guidance Wednesday at the board's legislative affairs committee meeting. Haley maintains the mall is a group of buildings, with the voting location in a building separate from Republican headquarters.

"We told them we would think about it and get back to them," Shults said. "It's a novel question. We have some ideas, but we're not prepared to say one way or the other. (The county's) argument makes a lot of sense. The portion used for voting has an independent entrance. I think it's a very reasonable interpretation."

Haley said he presented the state board with a map showing the Republican offices are more than 400 feet from the polling site on the northwest side of the mall. In addition to a separate entrance, the site has a mailing address and utilities separate from the headquarters, he said.

The mall was added as an early voting location and Election Day vote center when Hot Springs Memorial Field became unavailable prior to the preferential primary elections in May. The 1,239 ballots cast there during early voting made it the third most frequented of the county's four early voting sites.

No formal complaints about the polling site's proximity to Republican headquarters have been submitted, Haley and Shults said, but Haley said the commission has fielded several questions about it.

"I'd rather not lose the mall," Haley said. "If we do, we don't have anything in the south part of the county."

Haley said Piney Grove Methodist Church, 2963 Airport Road, has chosen not to participate in the Nov. 6 general election. It was the early voting location for western Garland County during the May elections and also served as an Election Day vote center.

It was the least frequented of the four early voting sites.

Haley said LakePointe Church, 1343 Albert Pike Road, will replace it, joining the election commission building, 649A Ouachita Ave., the mall, 4501 Central Ave., and Faith Fellowship Church, 3213 Highway 7 north, as the county's four early voting locations. All four sites will also be used on Election Day.

According to the state's election calendar, Oct. 17 is the deadline for the election commission to publish Election Day voting hours and locations and places and times for early voting. Oct. 8 is the voter registration deadline, and early voting begins Oct. 22.

Local on 09/07/2018

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