Benton County to still announce running counts

Commission honors parties’ wishes

— Benton County voters and interested observers will get election-night voting updates after the county’s election commission reached a compromise Friday during a tumultuous, two-hour meeting.

Bill Williams, chairman of the commission, initially had proposed ending the traditional practice of providing periodic reports throughout election night as votes are counted. Williams cited staff concerns with the time required to do the interim reports and what he said was an increased risk of error.

Officials of both major political parties and interested others objected to the proposal to end the updates at last week’s regular commission meeting. No decision was reached at that meeting because Commissioner Bob Balfe was absent, and Williams and Commissioner E.J. Miller split in aseries of votes on proposals, ranging from no updates to having a series of interim reports at set times during the night.

Lee Paull, who said he was representing the chairman of the Democratic Party’s Central Committee, encouraged the commission to continue the election night updates.

“In the past, there’s never been a problem with having these periodic updates,” Paull said. “I don’t see why there has to be a change. The Election Commission should do right by the citizens of Benton County.”

Justice of the Peace Frank Winscott said the commission should continue the election night updates, saying they are one way ofstimulating voter interest and encouraging greater participation in the election process.

Balfe attended Friday’s meeting and mediated between Williams and Miller, steering the commission to-ward a compromise and recommending that results come out on an interim basis. Balfe said he was in favor of having election night updates as long as they didn’t jeopardize the accuracy of the election process.

“It’s an efficiency and a timeliness issue,” Balfe said. “One of the foundations of our democracy is the right of the people to change their government. That’s something that has set us apart from the very beginning.”

The commission finally agreed on a policy of having three interim reports and one final, unofficial report on election night. The first report will include early voting totals, and overseas and absentee ballots, and be made as soon as possible after the polls close at 7:30 p.m.

Subsequent reports will provide raw vote totals, but not precinct-by-precinct results. The second report of the night will be issued around 9:30 p.m. The third report of the night will be issued between 11 p.m. and midnight.

Election coordinator AmyHuston said it is possible the third report could be the final, unofficial report. If not, that final report will be made later on election night.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 13 on 10/30/2010

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