Benton County Election Officials OK Early Voting Sites

BENTONVILLE -- With contests for mayor and a seat on the city council up for grabs in Bella Vista, county election officials predict a larger than normal turnout for the Nov. 25 runoff election.

The Benton County Election Commission on Monday discussed early voting provisions for the runoff election. The County Clerk's Office locations in Bentonville and Rogers will be supplemented by an off-site location at Riordan Hall in Bella Vista.

"I would guess we'll probably get 7,000 to 8,000 in the runoff," said Russ Anzalone, election commissioner. "It's for the mayor of Bella Vista."

In the mayoral runoff contest, James Wozniak will face Peter Christie. Bella Vista voters will choose an alderman as Ashley Linden and John Flynn remain in the Ward 1, Position 2 race.

Other runoff elections will see voters in Bentonville choose either W.P. "Bill" Burckart or Kristy Reed as alderman for the Ward 3, Position 2 seat and Jim Webb or Jim Grider for the Ward 4, Position 2 seat. Cave Springs voters will choose between Randall Noblett and Travis Lee for mayor, while Lowell voters will select either Lonnie Jones or Janette Lasater as alderman for Ward 1, Position 2. In Rogers, voters will select Carrie Perrien Smith or Sam Jeffery as aldermen for the Ward 4, Position 1 seat on the city council.

Robbyn Tumey, election commissioner, asked about the number of voting machines available and the number of paper ballots that will be printed for the election. She was particularly concerned about early voting for the Bella Vista runoff elections.

"It's going to be a big turnout there at Riordan Hall," Tumey said.

Kim Dennison, election coordinator, said there will be about 6,200 paper ballots printed for the runoff election, enough to provide for about 10 percent of the eligible voters in each of the 47 precincts that will be active for the runoff election. There will be as many voting machines for the runoff as there were for the general election if not more, Dennison said. The early voting site in Riordan Hall is limited in space and will have five machines, the same number that was used in the Nov. 4 general election, Dennison said. The smaller ballot, with just the two city races, should ease the problem of limited space, Dennison said.

"It won't be a long wait, if any at all, because it's so short," Dennison said of the differences in the ballots.

The commission also agreed not to open a second location for off-site early voting after learning the Rogers/Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce office in Lowell is unavailable for the early voting period. The commission agreed to ask the chamber to post a notice at the office that directs voters to the Rogers and Bentonville locations of the County Clerk for early voting.