Northwest Arkansas counties need election workers

Officials say they expect voter turnout to increase

BENTONVILLE -- Northwest Arkansas officials say they still need people to make the increasingly automated voting systems work smoothly on election day.

Benton and Washington counties need poll workers for the Nov. 8 general election. Benton County wants to add 115 poll workers. Washington County seeks 50 to 60 more workers.

Election Information

The 2016 general election is set for Nov. 8. Early voting begins Oct. 24 and ends Nov. 7. The deadline to register to vote in the election is Oct. 10.

Source: Benton County

"It varies depending on where it's located and what the turnout was in the primary election, but we need from seven to 11 poll workers at our vote centers," said Kim Dennison, Benton County election coordinator.

Benton County will use the 44 vote centers it had open during the March 1 primary election, Dennison said. The need for more poll workers is driven by the greater turnout expected for a general election in a presidential election year, and by the county's plans to add additional electronic voting machines to keep the vote centers running smoothly, she said.

"For the primary we had 327 poll workers," she said. "We think we need at least 115 more for the general election."

Jennifer Price, Washington County election coordinator, agrees the general election likely will generate a larger voter turnout than in March. The county has to replace a number of poll workers almost every election year, she said. In the March primary election, Washington County had about 390 poll workers, she said.

"It's something we deal with every two years," she said. "I am still looking for poll workers for the fall election."

Price said she's basing her voter turnout projections on the 2008 election, the most recent year in which there was a similar presidential contest with no incumbent. For Washington County, with about 100,000 registered voters in 2008, that year's general election saw more than 68,000 ballots cast. The high turnout for this year's primary elections has her prepared for a general election turnout as high as 80 percent. With the county now having more than 120,000 registered voters, that means as many as 96,000 voters could cast ballots in the fall election.

Dana Caler, election administrator with the Benton County Clerk's Office, said the 2008 general election saw 76,539 of the county's 103,663 registered voters cast ballots -- a 74 percent turnout.

"It's better to be overprepared than underprepared," Price said.

Russ Anzalone, chairman of the Benton County Election Commission, agrees the county has to increase poll workers. Benton County is stressing early voting, but the county still needs to be ready for a big turnout on election day.

"We don't want long lines on election day," he said.

Benton County pays poll workers $9 an hour, but the requirement of working 12 to 13 hours on election day, the need to be comfortable working with the computer tablets at voter check-in and electronic voting machines makes if difficult to attract and keep workers.

Vicki Penny of Lowell has been a poll worker for the last four years, working in both early voting settings and on election day. Most people would benefit from the experience, she said.

"Early voting is easy because it's from 8 to 5," she said. "Election day, those days are long. But it's an interesting day. People have issues that come up, and we're helping them to exercise their right to vote."

Training provided to poll workers and the ongoing support available makes the job easier than people might think, Penny said.

"It's always nerve-racking learning something new," she said. "But we're given a book, and that book tells you how to do everything. You just have to go through it. Plus they're always on the phone with you if you have questions."

Penny said she wants to continue working in elections as long as she can.

"I want to be part of this," she said. "I want to be a part of the lines on election day. We're helping people. We're helping them exercise their right to vote."

NW News on 05/21/2016

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