Early Voting Begins For Primary Election

The first day of early voting for the 2014 primary election went smoothly, local election officials said.

"We've had a steady stream of people," Benton County Clerk Tena O'Brien said Monday afternoon. "Before noon we had over 180 people in this office."

Early voting also went well on the first day in Washington County.

"It's going pretty well," Washington County Clerk Becky Lewallen said at around 2:30 p.m. "We're right at 180 now. It was a little bit busier this morning, but it's been kind of steady all day long."

Washington County had about 2,700 early votes cast in 2012, so Monday's first day put the county on track for a similar turnout this year, Lewallen said.

Officials in both counties were concerned that a pair of recent rulings in Pulaski County Circuit Court that declared the state's new voter identification law unconstitutional might cause some confusion. Act 595 of 2013 requires Arkansas voters provide a photo identification when casting their ballots. After Circuit Judge Tim Fox ruled the law unconstitutional, the state Supreme Court issued a stay in the court case, keeping the law in effect for now.

The law lists several forms of acceptable identification including driver's licenses, passports, military identification cards, state and federal employee identification, Arkansas concealed carry permits and student identification cards from Arkansas institutions. The law also provides that voters who are unable to obtain any other photo identification could obtain a voter identification card at the county clerk's office.

"It's been smooth," Lewallen said. "We haven't had any ID issues."

In Benton County, voting went off without any major problems at the six off-site early voting locations. Kim Dennison, election coordinator, said the most serious issue was an electronic voting machine that would not print a "zero tape" showing no votes had been cast when the machine was opened. That was corrected, she said.

"Other than that, nobody's called with any major issues," Dennison said. "I call that a good day in my book."

Dennison visited all six of the off-site early voting locations Monday morning. Turnout was slow, but steady, she said. In the 2010 primary election, 8,021 voters cast ballots on voting machines and another 33 people used paper ballots during early voting, according to information from the County Clerk's office. In the 2012 primary election, 7,512 people voted on machines and 14 voters used paper ballots during early voting. It's too early to predict how this year's turnout will compare to those years, Dennison said.

"It depends on what's on the ballot. That's what determines the turnout," she said.

The recent relocation of the County Clerk's office at 15th and Walnut streets in Rogers didn't create any problems Monday, O'Brien said. Election officials were concerned about parking at the new location and whether people accustomed to voting at the old location would be aware of the move. The new office opened at the beginning of March.

"I haven't heard anything," O'Brien said. "It's been pretty much complaint-free today."

The county is monitoring the parking situation at the new office and considering options if additional parking is needed, County Judge Bob Clinard said. It's too early to make that decision and he's not sure how big a consideration early voting might be, Clinard said.

"I went by there this morning and there was lots of parking at 8 a.m., but I don't know what it's going to be for the next two weeks," Clinard said Monday. "We went from about 20 dedicated parking places at the old building to about 70 or so spaces at the new one. Early voting only happens twice a year so you don't necessarily build your facility to something that happens only twice a year."

Voters may cast their ballots from today through May 19 in advance of the May 20 party primary elections.

NW News on 05/06/2014