Voter Turnout High, Benton County Runs Out of Ballots

Voter turnout remained high throughout the morning in the two-county area, according to election officials.

Washington County has not experienced any major problems, officials said. In Benton County, paper ballots were scarce.

Kim Dennison, election coordinator for the Benton County Election Commission, said turnout was heavier than expected and caused many polling sites to run out of ballots. She said most of the 57 precincts were out of paper ballots by early afternoon.

Many sites ran out of paper ballots shortly after polls opened at 7:30 a.m.

Brian Schafer lives on the east side of Beaver Lake and votes at the Rocky Branch Methodist Church. He went to vote at 8:30 a.m. and was told they were out of paper ballots.

“They told me they were only given 30 paper ballots for the whole precinct,” he said. “It seems to me like they are forcing people to use the electronic machines and I don’t trust those machines.”

John Brown Junior, chairman of the Benton County Election Commission, went to Fort Smith this morning to pick up additional paper stock to print ballots. He said ballots must be printed on special paper.

“We have to make due with what we can get,” Brown said. “There is no more paper stock in Northwest Arkansas.”

Not all voters in Benton County received the correct ballot. Voters at the First Assembly of God Church in Bentonville received the wrong ballots until midday, Dennison said.

Dennison said volunteer poll workers were confused on which ballot to give voters.

“The ballots they should have received should have had a city council race on it,” Dennison said. “The ballot they received only had county options.”

Contested city council races that should have been on the ballot include Ward 3 candidates Bill Burckart and James Smith, Ward 3 candidates Ed Austin and Leah Williams, Ward 1 candidates Mary Baggett and Stephanie Orman, Ward 1 Chris Sooter and Joey WIlliams, Ward 4 candidates Octavio Sanchez and Burton Head.

“This is something I can do nothing about,” Dennison said. “It is one of those things where the voters should have known what they were voting on. Once they got to the machine they should not have voted.”

Dennison said she fixed the issue after receiving a call at 11 a.m.

In Washington County, nearly 1,000 voters in Farmington and 1,200 in Prairie Grove cast a ballot between 7:30 a.m. and 1 p.m., according to Jennifer Price, Washington County Election Commission coordinator.

More than 100 people were lined up at Covenant Church in Fayetteville when polls opened.

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