Early Voting Ends Monday

CASTING BALLOTS - Early voters cast their ballots Friday during the lunch hour in the Benton County Clerk’s Office in Bentonville. By 1:30 p.m. more than 13,000 residents had voted early in the county.
CASTING BALLOTS - Early voters cast their ballots Friday during the lunch hour in the Benton County Clerk’s Office in Bentonville. By 1:30 p.m. more than 13,000 residents had voted early in the county.

— Benton County voters are increasingly taking advantage of early voting.

County Clerk Tena O’Brien said that as of 1:30 p.m. Friday, 13,711 people had voted during the early voting period.

“I think we’ve had a good turnout,” O’Brien said. “It’s what I expected.”

O’Brien said the county had also received 1,200 requests for absentee ballots and 900 of those had been returned by mid-day Friday.

Early voting continued Saturday.

James Kowal of Bentonville was one of the people took advantage of Saturday’s early voting.

Kowal said he works Tuesday and decided to vote early to make sure he cast his vote. Kowal wanted to avoid having a last minute conflict or possible emergency prevent him from voting.

“I know it’s done in case I was to get lazy Tuesday,” Kowal said.

Joe Brown of Bentonville also voted Saturday. It was an especially convenient time for his since he plans to be deer hunting Tuesday.

Brown said he did not want to have to choose between deer hunting and voting.

Steven Hill of Rogers said also voted early voted Saturday. Hill also enjoys the convenience of early voting and said he always early vote for elections.

“I don’t have to worry about conflicts with my scheduled and usually don’t have to wait in long lines,” Hill said.

While most voters have a Tuesday deadline to have their votes count, O’Brien said, overseas ballots received up to 10 days after the election will be counted if the ballot is postmarked by election day. Military ballots can also be received up to 10 days after election day, provided the ballot was executed by the date of the election.

Bill Williams, chairman of the Benton County Election Commission, said early voting in the May primary election accounted for slightly more than 20 percent of the vote total. If that trend holds for Tuesday’s general election, Williams said, about 65,000 of the county’s 104,000 registered voters will cast ballots. Williams said if early voting continues steadily through Monday the county could see either a larger percentage ballots cast during the early voting period or a heavier than expected turnout.

Williams said 14,833 people had voted early as of Saturday morning. Williams expects at least 17,000 people to vote early in the election.

“Monday will likely be pretty heavy,” Williams said. “The question is are we getting more early voting or having heavy turnout? There is a trend across the country toward more and more early voting because of the convenience and the greater time allowed for early voting.”

O’Brien said the day before an election is typically one of the heaviest days for early voting.

“I expect to see a steady stream of people voting on Monday,” she said.

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At A Glance

Early Voting Hours

Benton County will have three locations open for early voting on Monday. Voting hours are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Voters can cast their ballots at any of the Benton County Clerk’s three offices Monday. The offices are at 215 E. Central Ave. in Bentonville, 300 W. Poplar St. in Rogers and 707 S. Lincoln St. in Siloam Springs. The county’s fourth early voting location, in Bella Vista, will be closed Monday.

Source: Benton County Clerk’s Office

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