BENTONVILLE — Early voting for the special election on Benton County’s rural ambulance issue is set to begin today.
“We will be open (today),” County Clerk Tena O’Brien said Monday. “The way it is, elections must go on no matter what. They delivered the voting machines on Friday so they’re ready to be opened up for early voting.”
At A Glance
Early Voting Times
Early voting for the Feb. 11 special election on Benton County’s rural ambulance issue begins today. Early voting will be held from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. today, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Feb. 10 at the County Clerk’s offices in Bentonville, Rogers and Siloam Springs.
Source: Staff Report
County offices were closed Monday because of a winter storm that blanketed the area in snow. County Judge Bob Clinard said it was “highly likely” all county offices will be open today, even though more wintry weather is in the forecast.
“It will have to be awful bad for me to close the offices (today),” Clinard said.
The Quorum Court in September created an emergency medical services district with an $85 annual fee. The fee would pay the county’s cost to make ambulance service available. The fee will be assessed on households outside cities and not in the Northeast Benton County Emergency Medical Service District. A petition drive gathered enough signatures to force a referendum on the proposal.
The Feb. 11 vote also will be the first in the county conducted under the provisions of Act 595 of 2013 requiring voters show photo identification to vote. Information on the act and its requirements are available from the Secretary of State’s Office website at www.FaceYourVote.org. The website lists acceptable forms of identification. Voters who don’t bring an acceptable photo ID will be allowed to cast a provisional ballot, O’Brien said.
Provisional ballots will be counted if the voter returns to the County Clerk’s office or the Election Commission office by noon the Monday after the election with either proof of identity or an affidavit swearing the voter has no ID because of indigence or a religious objection to being photographed, O’Brien said.
John Brown Jr., chairman of the county Election Commission, said he is worried about the weather on election day as well as the early voting that begins today and continues through Monday.
“If election day is bad, we may have to come up with some emergency measures,” Brown said. “I’m worried about getting poll workers to their polling places.”