BENTONVILLE — A special primary election to fill a vacancy on the Siloam Springs Board of Directors is expected to draw several candidates, prompting the Benton County Election Commission to order as many as 300 paper ballots.
An election date of April 9 was set for the primary vote.
John Turner was elected to the Ward 1 seat on the city’s Board of Directors in 2010, according to information from the city. Turner was elected mayor in 2012, creating the Ward 1 vacancy. If no candidate wins a majority of the votes in the April 9 primary, a special municipal election to decide the winner will be held May 14.
Kim Dennison, the county’s election coordinator, said there are 1,489 people eligible to vote in the special election, but Commission Chairman John Brown Jr. said in 2010, only 200 of 1,170 people voted in the Ward 1 race. Commissioner Robbyn Tumey said she expects a large turnout for the special election.
“If we have five or six people on the ballot. We are going to have more then 300 people voting,” Tumey said.
Commissioner Russ Anzalone agreed multiple candidates could generate a large turnout. He suggested the commission wait until the filing period ends on Jan. 29 to decide how many paper ballots to order, and the other commissioners agreed.
The commission also decided to have the draw for ballot positions at 5 p.m. Jan. 29 at Siloam Springs City Hall.
The commissioners briefly discussed plans for the next general election, with Tumey asking for data on past election commission budgets and the number of active voters in the last three general elections.
Dennison told the commission she has learned it may be impractical to buy a small number of M100 machines that would allow the commission to count ballots at the precinct level. Dennison said the system used to count votes allows a limited number of counting methods, and Benton County is already using the maximum number.
With that limitation, Dennison said, the county couldn’t use the M100 machines and the 650 machines it is now using at the same time. Buying enough M100 machines, at a cost of about $5,000 each, to cover every precinct and early voting would cost the county about $350,000, Brown said.