Election Costs Dispute Continues

AVOCA MAYOR QUESTIONS CHARGES

— Questions about the cost of a May 18 special election in Avoca remain unresolved three months after balloting took place.

Avoca Mayor Thomas O’Dell raised questions about the cost of the election after the city received a bill for $2,013 from the Benton County Election Commission at the end of June. O’Dell noted the commission’s assessment of $500 for “general and administrative” expenses and questioned the commission’s authority to levy such a fee. O’Dell noted a $300 fee was discussed at one election commission meeting and commission chairman E.J. Miller raised that fee to $500 on his own authority as chairman.

FAST FACTS

County Election Commissions

Each of the Arkansas 75 counties has an Election Commission responsible for conducting elections within its county. The election commissioners consists of three members:

One member appointed by the county committee of the majority party (generally, the county committee chairman)

One member appointed by the county committee of the minority party (generally the county committee chairman)

One additional or third member selected by the county committee of the majority party

Source: www.arkansas.gov

O’Dell took his complaints to the Benton County Quorum Court in July. County Judge Dave Bisbee said the county has no authority over the Election Commission, but did invite the three commissioners to appear before the Quorum Court’s Committee of 13 to answer questions and provide information about the election costs. Bisbee and several justices of the peace encouraged the commissioners to meet with Avoca officials to resolve the dispute.

The bill has not been paid, according to records at the Benton County Clerk’s Office.

A special meeting of the commission was called for Tuesday to discuss the election bill and the commission’s fees. O’Dell and Avoca Recorder/Treasurer Diane Bowen attended the meeting. O’Dell repeated his questions about the commission’s authority to set and levy some of the fees the city is being billed for. Bowen added some questions about the commission’s billing for election workers, for which she said the commission seemed to be “double-billing” both Avoca and the state.

Miller started to answer Bowen’s questions, explaining the billing, but commissioner Bill Williams offered a motion to have the questions referred to the Election Commission staff. The motion also reduced the disputed general and administrative fee from $500 to $300.

Williams said the questions concerned a lot of operational details and were rightly the responsibility of the staff. He said election coordinator Amy Huston had the necessary information to answer questions about the billing and could then report to the commission. Commissioner Bob Balfe, who was only named to the commission in mid-June, said he didn’t have a lot of the information that was being discussed and he had no objection to Huston meeting with Avoca officials and going over the details line by line. Balfe voted in favor of Williams’ motion and the matter was left for Huston and Avoca officials to discuss.

Williams said he appreciated O’Dell’s concerns, but disagreed with his interpretation of state law governing the commission and its authority.

“It’s our duty to recover the expense of elections and that is what we’re trying to do,” Williams said.

Upcoming Events