NWA editorial: A vote for effectiveness

Voting machine replacement unorganized

The way Arkansas is going about the process of replacing its old voting systems with new technology should inspire confidence in the state's voters.

After all, what could possibly be more important than government ensuring it can collect the ballots of its people, tally the votes and produce the results in a timely, efficient and accurate manner?

What’s the point?

Arkansas election officials’ handling of the procurement of a new statewide voting system appears to be a crisis when it should not be.

That, as we said, is how it should be. Our state's election officials, however, have made sure that's not how it is when it comes to acquiring new system of voting for the state's 75 counties. If they were in charge of the decennial federal census, it seems they'd realize around Jan. 2, 2020, that they need to start planning.

It's difficult to understand why Arkansas appears to be in crisis mode when it comes to replacement voting machines. As in the past, replacement of voting machines is a foreseeable event, much like the required maintenance on a car that keeps it running smoothly. Arkansans, at a minimum, deserve state officials who worry about elections and how the voting process must run smoothly and effectively. Right now, state and local election officials appear to be flailing.

Local election officials in many counties have been waiting, and waiting for the Arkansas Secretary of State's Office to select a vendor who would be authorized to provide the necessary equipment at the county level to run elections. Finally, last Monday, Secretary of State Mark Martin announced he had chosen Nebraska-based Election Systems & Software to replace the state's voting equipment for nearly $30 million. ES&S was the source of the current fleet of voting machines and had the backing of many local election commissions.But that selection, as long as it was in coming, isn't the end of the story. Martin's spokesman -- Martin is rarely seen and heard from himself -- has said the goal is to have the system in place statewide by the general election of 2016, but not the newly moved-up primary election in March.Even that seems less than certain. While the Arkansas General Assembly authorized spending the $30 million, it did not actually provide the money needed to do it. How is that supposed to work? The Legislature isn't in session anymore.Local election officials -- the ones who really run elections -- say they're clueless about when or even if they'll get the equipment. Max Deitchler, a Washington County commissioner, recently told a reporter elections will continue either way, but voters should expect problems as a result of using old equipment.That inspires confidence, doesn't it?The people who are supposed to be experts at coordinating elections across the state also have very different ideas of how the new voting equipment should be rolled out. Several Northwest Arkansas election commissioners believe Martin's roll-out schedule isn't aggressive enough, while others such as Pulaski County say they'd prefer waiting until 2017 to implement a new system.Local lawmakers say the unallocated funding continues to be the holdup.That's the biggest irritation: The need for new voting systems should have been a surprise to no one, yet Martin's office and the state Legislature appear to be treating the procurement as something unusual and unforeseen. If there's a plan, it was a plan to have no real plan.Why didn't Martin and local election commissions press the Legislature hard for funding? Why didn't they push Gov. Asa Hutchinson for the resources necessary to do what they now say is vital and urgent. Where was the leadership? County judges, county clerks and the Association of Arkansas Counties seem to have done little to fix this problem.From the public's perspective, if the secretary of state and county governments can't be organized and effective in managing the voting process, it's easy to wonder just how effectively their running other government operations.Let's hope Arkansas' election leaders can dig their way out of this and develop a voting system all Arkansans can trust.

Commentary on 06/25/2015

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