Parking a concern for Benton County Election Commission

Benton County election officials spent time Monday morning talking about potential parking problems come primary election time.

The Election Commission met to review the paper ballots for the May 20 primary election. The discussion then turned to potential parking problems at the county’s new Rogers office location — one of nine early voting locations for the primary election.

Robbyn Tumey, a commission member, said she had spent more than an hour at the new location and heard nothing but complaints about the parking and waiting times. The problem could be worse with early voting bringing more people to the office, Tumey said.

Tumey suggested the commission might consider approaching Rogers officials to ask about opening another early voting location in the old city hall at Third and Poplar streets. The county vacated that site at the end of February. The county had offices for the assessor, collector and county clerk in that office before moving to the new location at 15th and Walnut streets. People still will have the old location in mind when they go to vote, Tumey said.

“I think a lot of people are going to to there first anyway," Tumey said.

Lack of parking at the Third and Poplar site was a problem with early voting in past elections, County Clerk Tena O’Brien said. With early voting for the primary set to begin May 5, it’s possible the first of the month rush of business for the state Revenue Office might have subsided, she said. The Election Commission is responsible for early voting at locations other than the three offices of the county clerk, O’Brien said.

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