If you were thinking that you wouldn't early vote on Monday and would wait until later in the week until things slow down, well, that slow down hasn't happened yet.
Jefferson County Clerk Shawndra Taggart was answering questions and phone calls at a rapid pace on Wednesday as the line of voters still extended outside and around the courthouse, just as it had on Monday, the first day of early voting, and on Tuesday.
"We've been extremely busy," she said while multitasking. "They're exercising their right to vote. I'm very pleased with that."
On day one, 1,281 people voted, compared with 1,115 who voted during the presidential election cycle four years ago, Taggart said. On day two, Tuesday, 1,012 voted in 2016, compared with 1,340 this year. Overall, that's a 23% increase.
The higher turnout numbers here were consistent with what officials were seeing in other counties across the state, according to a story published Tuesday in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, which said that counties were seeing record numbers of voters and requests for absentee ballots.
Across the nation, voters were also going to the polls in record numbers. A story aired by National Public Radio said that as of Saturday, 26 million people had already voted, six times the number of people who had voted by that point in 2016, when Donald Trump was running against Hillary Clinton for president.
In Jefferson County, Taggart said she had received 2,100 requests for absentee ballots as of Wednesday afternoon. She said she did not have numbers handy for absentee ballot requests at this point in the 2016 election, but she called the current number a "huge amount" and predicted it would exceed the 2016 figure.
"Look at that stack," she said, pointing to an overflowing tray of mailed-in ballots.
Some areas of the country have drop-off locations for ballots. She said that is not applicable in Arkansas, but said someone wanting to drop off an absentee ballot can do so if they themselves bring it to the courthouse and "sign it in," meaning that the person's ballot cannot be dropped off by someone other than the voter.
Absentee ballots are typically used by voters who are not able to get to the courthouse. For this election, however, anyone who is fearful of being exposed to the coronavirus can also request an absentee ballot. Taggart said voters have until Oct. 27 to request an absentee ballot, and the ballots must be returned to her office by the time the polls close on election day, which is 7:30 p.m.
So far, Taggart said, everything had gone smoothly at the courthouse. She said one voting machine had gone down, but officials were quickly able to get it functioning again.
