FAYETTEVILLE -- The Washington County Election Commission rejected a proposal Friday creating an early voting center at the University of Arkansas.
"We provided all the evidence we could today," said student Ryann Alonso, co-director of external relations for the Associated Student Government. "They just did not want to hear it."
Fast Fact
About 26,754 students enrolled at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in fall 2015. In a student-led survey of 2,539 students, 888 students said they were registered to vote in Washington County.
Source: University of Arkansas; The Associated Student Government
Commissioner Max Deitchler, a Democrat, voted in favor of the center. Chairman Bill Ackerman and commissioner Renee Oelschlaeger, both Republicans, voted against the measure.
Oelschlaeger said Friday students hadn't proved a voting center was needed on campus because other polling locations are nearby. The courthouse is about 1 mile from campus. Another polling location is a few blocks away, she said.
Just being inconvenient isn't enough when rural residents drive several miles to vote, Oelschlaeger said. Other county residents struggle to get to a polling location, but they still vote, she said.
"Democracy is not convenient always," she said.
The commission looked at the county as a whole, not at individual sections of the population, when making the decision Oelschlaeger said.
Ackerman said students should have provided more information during a July meeting when the center was discussed.
Students said after the vote they believed they could provide last-minute information Friday. Students provided commissioners a packet of information that included Razorback Transit ridership information.
The voting center had widespread support among students, faculty and staff at the university. The chancellor and assistant vice chancellor for university housing wrote letters of support. The faculty senate supported the center.
More recently, Reps. Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville, and Grant Hodges, R-Rogers, wrote a letter, dated Aug. 15, saying there's bipartisan support for a voting center on campus and asking commissioners to approve it.
Students planned to make the voting center the key piece of their get-out-and-vote initiative, said Taylor Farr, chief of staff for the student government.
Students said they also started a petition that already had roughly 2,100 signatures from people who supported having the center on campus. The petition will remain open and available online, Alonso said.
Students plan to have another initiative for a voting center in 2018, they said.
"I think it is great for democracy and civic engagement," Deitchler said before voting in favor.
"Don't be dismayed; carry on," Ackerman said after voting against the center. "This is not the end of the world. We haven't closed the door."
The voting center failed to gain traction among commissioners even after students offered to pay, Alonso said.
The student association agreed to pay for the voting center, for about 12 parking places for poll workers and for the university's bus system to bring in voters from off campus.
The Election Commission could accept the money like any other donation, but the Quorum Court must appropriate it because any donated money goes first to the general fund, County Attorney Steve Zega said.
Not all commissioners, however, were comfortable with accepting money from an outside agency.
Oelschlaeger said she worried allowing groups outside of city, county and state governments to pay for voting centers would open the door to having centers paid for by corporations or other entities that could influence or intimidate voters.
After commissioners voted down the on-campus center, students chatted among themselves in halls at the courthouse. Alonso said she was frustrated but not surprised the student initiative failed.
"I kind of had a feeling that this was going to get shut down," she said.
A similar attempt for a polling location failed around 2008. Oelschlaeger voted against the idea at that, saying she could not get over such a polling site's being only nine-tenths of a mile away from the Washington County Courthouse, the main hub for early voting.
The on-campus early voting site came up during Thursday's Quorum Court meeting when Justice of the Peace Lisa Ecke asked commissioners whether $135,000 the court was set to approve would go toward equipment for a new on-campus voting center.
Ecke is a Republican who represents Springdale east of U.S. 71B, south of Emma Avenue and north of U.S. 412. She said she had heard from many constituents who are "aggressively" against the center.
Ecke and several other justices of the peace voted against the appropriation after commissioners refused to answer questions about the proposed center. The measure eventually passed after failing once.
Oelschlaeger said the pressure from some justices of the peace during the Quorum Court meeting didn't influence commissioners. Ackerman said at the meeting no other voting centers were planned.
Not getting a center for the 2016 general election will not stop the drive to get students to the polls, Alonso said.
"We will get our students out to vote this year," she said.
NW News on 08/20/2016