GREENWOOD — The Sebastian County Election Commission is rolling out for public input its proposal to switch from polling places to vote centers for elections.
Commission Chairman David Damron told people at two public meetings last week that for a number of years the commission has been looking for ways to increase voter participation in elections. New electronic equipment that the commission obtained last year opens the possibility of making the switch.
“Currently on Election Day you have to go to your polling site to vote,” he said. “Moving to a vote center will allow any Sebastian County registered voter to vote at [any] vote center in the county on Election Day.”
About 25 people turned out for the first public meeting on the proposal Tuesday at Greenwood City Hall. A smaller crowd, mostly public officials, attended the second meeting Thursday at the Creekmore Park Rose Room in Fort Smith. A final meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at First Baptist Church in Lavaca.
The election commission is holding the meetings to let people know about the proposed change and to find out what people think about having vote centers.
Election commission coordinator Meghan Hassler said the commission is considering trimming the county’s 37 polling sites to about 27 vote centers. She said there would be three or four vote centers in each of Fort Smith’s four wards and one in each of the county’s 10 cities outside Fort Smith.
Under the proposal, election commissioners told residents, six polling places in the unincorporated areas of the county and four or five in Fort Smith would be closed.
Commissioners said the criteria for a vote center location — secure wireless Internet access and handicapped accessibility for the disabled — ruled out most sites outside of cities.
The commission hasn’t decided how many vote centers to open and where they would be. Damron said the plan would have to be approved by the Sebastian County Quorum Court, which funds the commission, and by the Arkansas secretary of state.
Several people at the meeting in Greenwood live outside a city and questioned closing polling sites in unincorporated areas. They said it could be difficult for people, especially senior citizens, to get to a city to vote. Some said it appeared that the commission was trying to force people to early vote.
“The theme is not to alienate voters,” Damron said Friday. “We don’t want any excuses for not voting.”
The commission checked on how Benton and Washington counties instituted their vote center systems. Contrary to the direction Sebastian County is considering, Damron said, election officials in Washington County closed more polling sites in Springdale and Fayetteville and left open polling places in the unincorporated areas.
“We’re trying to listen to folks right now,” he said.
Closing polling sites outside of cities will make sites in cities more crowded, some said. Hassler said the voting machines removed from the closed unincorporated area polling sites could be placed in the city vote centers if needed.
“I like my polling place at Milltown,” Ursula Carter said. “I’ve always voted there. I know all the people.”
Sebastian County Clerk Sharon Brooks said she believes vote centers are good and that she supports them as long as they are placed in locations that are convenient for voters.
Vote centers have the advantage of allowing a voter to vote anywhere in the county, Hassler said. Currently, voters are assigned to specific polling sites for the precincts where they live.
Voters are tied to specific polling sites, Hassler said, because almost every one of the county’s 110 precincts have a different ballot, sometimes more than one different ballot in a single precinct. Voters have to go where they can get their unique ballots.
And the poll books — the list of registered voters — are printed for each precinct and sent to the proper polling sites on Election Day.
With the county’s new electronic equipment, the poll books for all the precincts in the county and all the different ballots that each precinct would need on Election Day can be accessed by electronic tablets at each vote center, Hassler said.
Brooks said converting to vote centers would not burden her office. The office is completely electronic. Instead of printing out poll books, the data are uploaded to computer tablets that go to the polling sites.
A person could walk into any vote center, give his name and be matched with the appropriate ballot for the precinct where the person lives, Hassler said.
If the election commission decides to convert to vote centers, Sebastian County would be the 11th county to adopt the voting procedure. The other 10 counties are Benton, Boone, Clark, Columbia, Faulkner, Garland, Miller, Montgomery, Saline and Washington, according to the Arkansas secretary of state office.
“I believe in the near future, every county will use vote centers,” Damron said.
Jennifer Price, coordinator for the Washington County Election Commission, said the conversion to vote centers in 2015 has been a positive move for voters in the county. It has been convenient for voters, and the election commission saved money by needing fewer poll workers, she said.
Washington County voters who work in Benton County, for example, have only to cross the county line on the way home and stop at any vote center to cast their ballots on Election Day.
The commission consolidated a few polling places in instituting vote centers, Price said. The commission left many open to ensure that there were plenty for the heavy voting in last year’s presidential election. With less-active election years ahead, she said, the commission may consider closing more.