BENTONVILLE — Benton County election officials say they counted the last of the normal Election Day ballots Friday, but final results for Tuesday’s election still await the return of overseas and military ballots and counting a handful of absentee and provisional ballots.
John Brown Jr., chairman of the Election Commission, said Friday afternoon there were 71 absentee ballots in the process of being counted. Brown said provisional ballots were being held by the County Clerk’s office.
At A Glance
Under, Over Votes
John Brown Jr., chairman of the Benton County Election Commission, said there was an unusually large number of under votes recorded in Tuesday’s general election. He said the under vote totals show when a voter casts no vote in a given race. All of the choices marked on that ballot are counted, even if only one race is marked. If a voter marks more than one candidate in a race or more than one choice in a ballot question, that will be read as an over vote and none of the choices in the contest with the over votes are counted.
Source: Staff Report
Voters cast provisional ballots when their voter information isn’t on file in the poll books and can’t be confirmed by phone. If the voter information is found to be correct the votes will be counted, Brown said. By law, he said, the county has to wait at least 10 days after the election for overseas and military ballots. Once those ballots are returned and counted, Brown said, the results will be finalized and certified.
Brown said he anticipates a post-election review of the problems the county has encountered, including long lines and lengthy delays on Election Day, a shortfall in the number of paper ballots needed and questions about the apparent use of the paper ballots that were on hand to shorten voting lines early on Election Day, leaving some precincts without paper ballots later in the day.
At A Glance
Bella Vista Update
Two Bella Vista City Council candidates who dropped out of their races before Tuesday’s general election filed paperwork with the Benton County Clerk’s Office on Friday to withdraw to avoid runoff elections. Their names appeared on the ballot even though they were no longer in the races.
Terry Tomlin withdrew from the Ward 2, Position 2 race. Incumbent Richard Rooney had 4,195 votes to Tomlin’s 3,101 votes and Herb Thomas’ 2,350 votes.
Karen Young withdrew from the Ward 3, Position 2 race. Larry Wilson had 3,518 votes to Young’s 3,464 votes and Suzanne Jessup’s 2,542 votes.
According to Arkansas Code 7-5-106(d), those who don’t wish to participate in a runoff election are required to submit a notarized letter of withdrawal to the County Clerk’s office by the time the election is certified Nov. 16.
In Ward 3, Position 1, Linda Leffler had 4,086 votes to Allen King’s 3,425 votes and incumbent Earl Berdine’s 2,185 votes. Leffler dropped out of the race prior to the election, but has not filed any paperwork to drop out.
Source: Staff Report
“There will be some changes made,” Brown said.
Brown said the county didn’t anticipate the number of voters who were drawn to the polls by their interest in just the presidential race or in one or more of the ballot issues.
In the presidential race, Brown said, there were only a few hundred under votes. The partial vote total from Thursday showed 433 under votes in that contest. The same tally showed 3,944 under votes in the race for the 3rd District seat in the U.S. House or Representatives. In the race for Benton County judge there were 5,552 under votes reported.
“A lot of people came out just to vote for president or in the wet-dry, medical marijuana or highway tax amendments,” Brown said.
County Judge Bob Clinard said he wouldn’t criticize the election staff, saying it’s more important to correct problems Tuesday’s election revealed.
“I don’t blame the Election Commission or the County Clerk’s Office for the problems,” Clinard said. “It wasn’t their fault that the machines didn’t count the ballots. We have a machine to print ballots, but that machine has to be calibrated so the ballots will be printed properly. It’s a very technical operation. They don’t make the machines.”
Clinard said the commission might be criticized for the shortfall in paper ballots, but added it followed the guidelines set by the state.
“They took the results of the 2008 election in Benton County, which is what they’re supposed to do,” he said. “They didn’t factor in the additional voters because of those five ballot issues. Certainly, I think, that added to the increased voter turnout. The medical marijuana, the wet-dry issue and the highway tax — all those brought voters out.”
Clinard also said the reduction in the number of precincts in Benton County added to the number of voters in each remaining precinct, which contributed to the longer lines. The county had 83 precincts prior to 2012 and reduced the number of precincts to 57 earlier this year.
Benton County Clerk Tena O’Brien said the county should examine the polling places it’s using and search for larger venues that can handle a growing number of voters.
“We’re not a county of 55,000 voters anymore,” she said. “But we’re using some of the same polling places now that we were back then.”
O’Brien said the county also needs to spend some time working on the layout of the polling places it uses to shorten lines and improve the flow of voters into and out of voting stations.