BENTONVILLE — Benton County’s Election Commission put off a decision Thursday on using schools as polling places for the Sept. 17 millage election in Bentonville.
“I have some concerns,” John Brown Jr., commission chairman, said after the meeting.
The Bentonville School District will ask voters to approve a 2.9-mill increase. The tax increase, if approved, would pay for a second high school. One seat on the Bentonville School Board also is up for election.
School District representatives briefed the commission on locations the district would offer as polling places. Mary Ley, district communications director, said the administration building is one potential polling place, along with Barker Middle School, Ardis Ann Middle School and Cooper Elementary School.
At A Glance
What’s Next
The Benton County Election Commission will meet at 9:30 a.m. Thursday to discuss using School District buildings as polling places for the Sept. 17 school election. The commission will meet at the Benton County Public Services Building, 1204 S.W. 14th St. The school district has proposed a 2.9-mill property tax increase that would raise $74.7 million for a high school on Gamble Road in Centerton.
Source: Staff Report
The School Board on Monday approved a recommendation to use the four district buildings as polling places for the election. The district wants to make voting more convenient for parents of children, Ley told the commission. The sites were chosen with safety in mind, Ley said, and the district has arranged to have police officers and deputies work at the sites on election day.
The school gymnasiums where voting will be held are accessible without voters having to go through the hall, thus minimizing encounters with students, Ley said. Parking is available at all three school locations and employees at the administration building will be instructed to park across the street election day.
No schools were used as polling places during last year’s millage election. Voters in the district would have to be notified of any changes and that could create confusion election day, Commissioner Robbyn Tummey said.
“The County Clerk will have to send out a notice telling people for this election you’re voting here, then in the next election they’ll have to send out another notice saying you’re voting somewhere else,” Tummey said. “It’s a problem.”
The district would use social media sites, send letters to parents and pay for advertising in more traditional media including newspapers and television, Ley said. Changes in voting locations would contribute to problems, no matter what steps are taken to notify voters, Brown said.
“You’re going to have people who’ll say ‘I don’t take the paper,’” Brown said. “They’ll say ‘I don’t watch TV and I don’t have a computer.’”
Ley and Galen Havner, School District human resources director, both said the district is agreeable to using the buildings as polling places in other elections, although not necessarily all elections. The district received no negative comments about using the schools as polling places, Ley said. Sharon Rose, on the Election Commission staff, said she answered one call from a woman concerned the use of the schools could favor pro-millage voters.
The Election Commission and County Clerk’s office are working on precinct boundaries to bring precincts into compliance with a new state law limiting voting precincts to 3,000 voters. Until that work is done, Tummey said, she's reluctant to change polling places.
Brown agreed the commission needed to gather more information and discuss the question at some length. Kim Dennison, election coordinator, said she needed to have the information before July 12 to prepare ballots.