BENTONVILLE -- The Benton County Election Commission began to look at its future Monday as commissioners discussed the need to engage the state Legislature and the Quorum Court on election issues.
The three commissioners discussed the need to work with state and local lawmakers after a brief meeting called to review provisional ballots from last week's runoff election. Russ Anzalone, the lone Republican on the commission, said a meeting between the commission and area legislators seems unlikely to happen before the 2015 session of the General Assembly.
At A Glance
Election Costs
Kim Dennison, Benton County election coordinator, said the Election Commission received more than $102,000 from the state for the April primary and another $34,000 for the primary runoff. Billing for the September school elections and the November general election and runoff have not been completed, but the commission billed Siloam Springs about $8,000 for that city’s April primary election and runoff and billed the Rocky Branch Fire Department $3,390.53 for a special election held in July, Dennison said.
Source: Staff Report
"I've talked to three or four of them and they're back and forth to Little Rock," Anzalone said.
Anzalone plans to draft a letter to the area delegation asking them to contact the Election Commission in advance of debate on any legislation that relates to elections.
Anzalone asked John Brown Jr., commission chairman, and Robbyn Tumey, the third member of the commission, to review the list of changes to state election laws from the last session, which Anzalone said reaches at least 47, and provide details of how they created problems at the local level.
Brown said he has heard a law that mandates voters show photo identification will be proposed next year to replace one struck down by state courts this year. Another example is a law that requires paper ballots used in an election be kept in storage for several years, Anzalone said.
The commission also needs to work with the Quorum Court to help it understand how the election process, particularly the commission's budget, works, Tumey said.
Tumey said she recently had a conversation with a justice of the peace, whom she would not name, who was unaware that the commission bills the state, cities, school districts and other entities involved in elections, recouping a large part of the commission's annual budget.
"I just think it's important they know that," Tumey said. "We have this $250,000 budget and they say 'How can that be?" when it's usually about half of that."
The commission reviewed and approved five provisional ballots cast in the Nov. 25 runoff election. All five ballots were the result of voters who asked for absentee ballots and then changed their plans, Brown said.
"These are all people who were sent absentee ballots and didn't return them," Brown said. "They wanted to vote at the polling place so they were given provisional ballots."
The County Clerk's Office confirmed that none of the five had returned their absentee ballots so the provisional ballots were counted. The five additional votes changed nothing in the unofficial results, Brown said. The commission has to wait until Friday for any outstanding overseas military ballots to come in before the runoff results are certified.
NW News on 12/02/2014