County clerk gets 'stacks' of absentee applications

The Garland County Court House. - File photo by The Sentinel-Record
The Garland County Court House. - File photo by The Sentinel-Record

The Nov. 3 general election is more than 80 days away, but Garland County Clerk Sarah Smith said her office has received as many applications to vote absentee as the number of absentee ballots the county counted in the last presidential election cycle.

About 1,400 applications had been processed as of Tuesday morning, with hundreds more waiting to be checked in. She said more than 100 came in the mail Monday. More than 1,500 absentee ballots were counted in the 2016 general election.

"We're getting stacks of (applications) every day," she said.

Smith and the Garland County Election Commission have projected as many as 15,000 of the county's voters could cast absentee ballots in the election. Voters have until Oct. 27 for their applications to be received in the mail by the clerk's office, according to the state's election calendar. County clerks can begin mailing ballots Sept. 17.

The law limits absentee voting to those who will be unavoidably absent from the polls, have a physical disability or illness or who live in a licensed long-term care or residential facility. But last month Secretary of State John Thurston said absentee ballots will be provided to registered voters concerned about contracting or spreading the coronavirus at polling sites. The executive order the governor issued Friday gave the statement the weight of law, decreeing that COVID-19 concerns are a valid reason to vote absentee.

Applications available for download on the election commission website, http://www.garlandcountyvote.org, list "fear of COVID-19" next to the box applicants check if they will be unavoidably absent. Applications available on the secretary of state's website don't include COVID-19 as a reason for requesting an absentee ballot, causing some confusion among voters about which of the three boxes they should check.

The law doesn't allow registration information voters submit with their absentee ballots to be processed until a week before Election Day, but the executive order issued Friday gives election workers eight extra days to canvass outer envelopes containing the voter statement form and copy of the voter's ID.

The registration envelopes can begin being processed Oct. 19, the day early voting begins. The information in the envelope will determine if the ballot associated with it will be counted. If the voter statement form has been filled out correctly, with the signature matching the signature on the voter's application, and a copy of a valid ID included, the ballot-only envelope will be set aside for counting on Election Day.

The inner, ballot-only envelope cannot be opened until 8:30 a.m. on Election Day, a date Election Commission Chairman Gene Haley has asked the governor to move through his executive authority.

"If we have 15,000, we have to open 15,000 envelopes, unfold the ballot and scan them in all on Election Day," he said. "That's going to be terrible. I wrote (the governor) yesterday and asked them to create more time. For early voting we're scanning ballots for two full weeks. We just don't read the machines.

"The only difference is when you go vote in person, the voter puts their ballot in the scanner. For (absentee ballots), election officials have to do it.

The ballot draw will be held Aug. 21 at noon at the election commission building. The commission will meet after the drawing with the hope of finalizing the list of early and Election Day voting locations. Haley said Visit Hot Springs has agreed to make the Hot Springs Convention Center available for early voting.

Oct. 5 is the voter registration deadline.

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