We'll call this Part 2 in How to Hold an Epic Election During a Pandemic, an irregular series.
The series began Sunday with a column about Gov. Asa Hutchinson formally issuing an emergency order permitting absentee voting for no reason other than that one is afraid to venture out amid the virus to go to a polling place, either for early voting or on the day of the election.
Today's installment reports further details provided by, and concerns expressed by, Terri Hollingsworth, the county clerk overseeing voter registration and absentee voting in Pulaski County, the state's biggest.
Hollingsworth appreciated the governor's order as far it went, which was to sanction any-reason absentee voting this fall and advance by a week the time clerks may begin opening the outside envelopes of returned absentee ballots for the general election to determine their validity.
Money is the over-arching unaddressed unconcern.
Hollingsworth told me she'd asked the governor in his meeting with county clerks for special front-end assistance from his emergency funds. She said he told her that the depth and flexibility of his emergency funds had been overstated.
For now, she said the plan is for the counties to meet the heightened mail costs and file after the election for reimbursements from a coronavirus relief fund in the secretary of State's office containing $4.8 million.
That cost is mainly for postage to mail absentee applications that voters seek, then, beginning Sept. 17, to mail the ballots themselves.
There will be no prepaid postage in Pulaski County for the returned application and ballot. That's owing to the uncertainty of costs considering that more than 7,000 applications have been made already in the county at a time when only 1,500 had been requested four years ago. An existing fund is based on a pre-virus estimate of 9,000 absentee ballots overall. The early pace suggests more than 20,000--maybe double that--are now likely this year.
The governor has made clear the state will not reimburse for return postage.
Readers uneasy about mail service have asked if they may request a mailed absentee ballot, then return the completed application and/or ballot in person. The answer is yes. In Pulaski, the courthouse is closed, but the clerk's office has a social-distancing setup on the Spring Street side to receive hand-deliveries.
It's also possible to download and fill out the application online, then scan and email it.
As I wrote Sunday, just check the box for unavoidable absence as your reason.
Readers have asked if they may apply for and get an absentee ballot and then decide to vote in person, either early or on Election Day. Hollingsworth said this is an important point: Yes, they may, but the in-person vote would be cast as provisional, not to be counted until later if relevant.
It would be better to make up your mind and stick with the plan. Certain votes are better than provisional.
As one accustomed to putting on her mask and going to the grocery store at expected down times, Hollingsworth said she intends to vote that same way--masked and distanced at a well-chosen period of expected light activity at one of the 11 early voting locations, up by one from the last election.
I figure that's what I'll do, too, blessed as I am by a flexible schedule during the day and averse as I am to heading out to find a copier to get an image of my driver's license to meet the photo-ID requirement of the absentee ballot. It's easier simply to don the mask, keep a distance and show the ID at mid-morning or mid-afternoon at an early voting site.
Those deciding to vote absentee--or finding it the only viable option by their situations--must remember to enclose that ID proof requirement.
Those 11 early voting sites will be open this year on the day of the election, thus able to get voters processed into their regular precincts as on any other early voting day. Meantime, eight of the county's regular precinct hosts have notified the clerk they'll bail out this year owing to the virus.
The clerk is looking for replacement sites, and there's no reason to identify the eight bailouts at this point except to say some are in west Little Rock and one is where I've long voted in midtown.
As for the number of willing poll workers during the pandemic, Hollingsworth said 403 experienced poll workers in Pulaski County have said they wish to return; that 240 have said they will not; that more than 300 haven't said yet; and that about 200 new applications have been filed. The Election Commission will need about 1,000 workers.
So, volunteers are needed. You can do that by going to votepulaski.net. The link to click for poll-working volunteering is on the first page.
So, onward we push on the challenge to keep voters enfranchised and uninfected.
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John Brummett, whose column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, is a member of the Arkansas Writers' Hall of Fame. Email him at [email protected]. Read his @johnbrummett Twitter feed.