HOW WE SEE IT: Thoughts On Election, Voting, Results

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Did you hear President Obama’s reference to Benton County in his victory speech late Tuesday night?

The president offered thanks to all the voters who waited in line for a very long time, then said “By the way, we have to fi x that.”

OK, perhaps he didn’t have Benton County specifically in mind. But at that moment, voters in Republican-heavy Benton County may have, for just a second, shared a moment of unity with the Democratic victor.

The voter experience Tuesday in Benton County could hardly have been worse. Reliance on an inadequate number of electronic voting machines paired with a woefully short printing of paper ballots combined for abysmal electoral logistics.

Explanations from Benton County election oft cials boiled down to this: “We weren’t prepared.”

It’s inexcusable some voters showed up within an hour of the polls opening Tuesday to be told there were no paper ballots and the lines for electronic voting were long.

The Election Commission appears to believe electronic machines should be the primary voting instrument. Fine. Buy more of them to handle the lines. That will be an expensive option.

We suggest the paper balloting system makes more sense as a primary approach. Dozens of people can be handed paper ballots while one voter lingers at an electronic machine. Focus on printing enough ballots to run the full election and allow electronic machines to serve as secondary options.

Paper ballots keep people flowing even if technology fails. All paper ballots require is a table and a pencil.

Some penny-pinchers might criticize the commission if it printed too many ballots, but it takes a lot of overprinting to add up to the cost of those electronic voting machines.

What’s clear is the system in Benton County failed to build confidence among voters, and that should be an overarching goal all county oft cials share.

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Voters in Fayetteville gave Mayor Lioneld Jordan a clear statement they are pleased with his leadership.

He vanquished his challenger, former two-term mayor Dan Coody, 63 to 37 percent.

Jordan defended his first term saying he had so much work to do to “save” the city from fi nancial ruin and Coody’s prior leadership he didn’t have time to cast a vision for the community’s future. That’s not a problem now. Tuesday’s election clearly gave him a mandate for leadership.

In his meeting with us, he pledged creation of 500 new jobs in Fayetteville each year for the next four. We’ll hope they’re high-tech, good-paying jobs.

He advocated the dredging of the Arkansas River as a way to promote economic growth for the region.

He said he’d make Fayetteville as accommodating for new business as he can, and Fayetteville needs economic opportunity.

Term No. 1 set the stage. Term No. 2 is Jordan’s opportunity to demonstrate how his team-building skills translate into the advancement of Fayetteville as a place to work, get an education, live and shop.

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Tuesday’s national returns showed the American people effectively want what they’ve gotten for the last four years. They picked the same president, kept Democrats in control of the Senate and the House in Republicans’ hands.

Elections present new opportunities to fi nd common ground for the nation’s future. We have to wait to see whether there’s hope for change or just more political stalemates.

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As for the state Legislature, many thanks to the voters of Arkansas House districts 26, 58 and 63 for rejecting Reps. Loy Mauch, Jon Hubbard and former lawmaker Charles Fuqua. All three had imbecilic notions about race, religion and history. The General Assembly is better without them.

Opinion, Pages 5 on 11/08/2012