County Clerk's offices busy on voting registration deadline day

BENTONVILLE -- It was a busy day at the county clerk's offices Monday as residents had their last opportunity to register to vote.

Monday was the final day to register to vote in the Nov. 3 general election.

The Benton County Clerk's offices in Bentonville, Rogers and Siloam Springs stayed open until 7:30 p.m. to assist residents.

Benton County had 167,139 registered voters early Monday afternoon, said Dana Caler, Clerk's Office elections administrator/voter supervisor. The county had 156,504 registered voters for the March primary.

"We are staying very busy with phones and in-person traffic today with people registering and also with people who want to verify their voter registration," Caler said at about 1 p.m. "We have been extremely busy, but we are able to keep people moving through pretty quickly."

The Washington County Clerk's Office at the County Courthouse in Fayetteville was open until 4:30 p.m.

Washington County had 138,386, registered voters as of Monday afternoon, said County Clerk Becky Lewallen. There were 131,721 registered voters for the March primary, Lewallen said.

The Washington County Election Commission called a special meeting Monday afternoon to handle a couple items.

Jennifer Price, election director, told the Election Commission it inadvertently omitted a candidate's name from the notice of election it published in Sunday's Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

Price said Kevin Flores, a candidate for the Ward 2, Position 2 seat on Springdale's City Council was omitted from the notice. Flores is challenging the incumbent, Rick Evans.

Flores' name is on the ballot and appears on the list of candidates the commission posted on its website.

Price said she plans to publish a "mini-notice" in Sunday's edition that will include Flores' name. His name will also appear in the final notice, to be published Oct. 25.

The commission approved a change in location for early voting for two days scheduled at the Springdale Civic Center at 2323 S. Old Missouri Road.

Price said an event at the center has been scheduled for all day Oct. 24, so early voting on that Saturday and Monday, Oct. 26, will be moved to another space in the same complex. Early voting will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 24 and from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 26. Signs will direct voters to the appropriate locations.

Early voting begins Oct. 19.

The final day to request an absentee ballot be mailed is Oct 27 and Nov. 2 is the final day to request an absentee ballot in person.

The final day to transfer registration within the state of Arkansas is Oct. 30.

Tom Sissom and Mike Jones contributed to this report.

Upcoming Events