BENTONVILLE — Benton County’s Election Commission aims to reduce reliance on electronic voting machines and transition back to using paper ballots.
“That’s the way I prefer to go,” Commission chairman John Brown Jr. said. “Because, in my opinion, you can vote quicker with paper ballots than you can with machines, especially if you’ve got people reading every word on the ballot.”
At A Glance
Sales Tax Revenue
Benton County’s sales tax collection for September was 10 percent more for the same month in 2011, Comptroller Sarah Daniels said. Daniels told the Finance Committee the county’s sales tax revenue for the year is up by more than 7 percent over the same period last year. Daniels said the county is $419,354 ahead of its 2011 collection and is on track to reach the projected 2012 revenue of $6.6 million.
Source: Staff Report
Brown and commission secretary Russ Anzalone told the county’s Finance Committee on Tuesday the commission is reviewing the 2012 election and working to change the equipment used, voting procedures and staffing levels in time for the next general election in November 2014.
Brown and Anzalone presented the justices of the peace with a letter adopted by the commission Tuesday afternoon. The letter briefly covers the growth in the county’s voting population — from about 80,000 in 2006 to roughly 115,000 in 2012 — and the problems the panel attributes to that growth.
The commission says the Ivotronic voting machines use outdated technology and are no longer being manufactured. The county could only increase the number of machines available by purchasing used machines from other sources where they have been phased out.
“I think there’s only 12 states in the Unites States that still use the Ivotronics,” Brown said.
The commission also compared the staffing levels of Benton County to Pulaski and Sebastian counties. Pulaski County, which recorded about 160,000 votes in the Nov. 6 general election, has six full-time commission employees while Sebastian County, which saw about 45,000 people vote in that election, has two full-time and two part-time commission employees.
Benton County had about 80,000 voters participate in the election and has two full-time election commission employees. The commission indicated they are looking at adding at least one more full-time employee to help with the workload.
The commission also said they are looking at shifting the use of the voting machines into an expanded early voting period, with three added locations to make early voting easier throughout the county. In 2012, early voting was available at the three offices of the County Clerk and at three off-site locations.
Justice of the Peace Kurt Moore indicated he agreed with the plan to use more paper ballots.
“The nice thing about paper is you’re only limited by the number of places people can sit,” Moore said. “You’re going to cut down on your wait time by using paper.”
The 2012 general election saw voters report problems with long lines at polling places and — in some precincts — an insufficient number of paper ballots. The county also had problems in counting votes when the three machines used to count paper ballots failed during the process.
The commissioners agreed the ballot counting problem was due at least in part to the length of the paper ballot and the need to fold the ballots three times to fit them into the ballot boxes.
“I’m fairly certain the folds on the ballot are what caused our three machines to shut down,” Brown said, adding Election Systems and Software, which manufactured and services the Ivotronic voting machines, hasn’t given the commission a definite cause for the failures.
Brown and Anzalone told the justices of the peace the Election Commission is also looking at buying new machines to count paper ballots at each precinct as a way to speed election day vote processing. The M-100 precinct counters cost about $5,000 each and Brown and Anzalone estimated the county would need as many as 80 if they adopt a plan to increase polling places from 57 to somewhere between 65 and 70. That would put one M-100 machine in each polling places while leaving some in reserve.
“It’s going to be costly,” Justice of the Peace Tom Allen said of the idea of purchasing the new machines.
The Finance Committee took no action Tuesday on the commission presentation. Brown extended an invitation to the justices of the peace to visit the commission office to see the operation and have any of their questions answered.
The committee approved forwarding 2013 budget on to the Quorum Court’s Committee of 13 for discussion. The justices of the peace removed one item from the budget, a measure to change the titles of some employees from managers to directors after Sarah Daniels, county comptroller, said she thought the changes were inappropriate for some of the employees covered. The justices of the peace voted to send the proposed changes back to the Quorum Court’s Personnel Committee for discussion.
Also Tuesday, the justices of the peace forwarded a measure transferring money in the Sheriff’s Office budget for 2012 to pay for a new pickup. Allen said the Sheriff’s Office has already taken possession of the truck, even though the Quorum Court hasn’t approved the expenditure. Moore made a motion to send the request to transfer money on to the Committee of 13, with the request that someone from the Sheriff’s Office be present at that committee’s Dec. 11 meeting to explain the purchase.