Early voting sites in Little Rock at five

There will be five early voting locations for the Little Rock School District’s May 9 special election on a proposal to extend the levy of 12.4 debt-service mills as a way to raise money for school construction and updates.

The Pulaski County Election Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved four early-voting locations — two that came at the request of the No Taxation Without Representation campaign against the tax extension and two more at the request of Little Rock School District Superintendent Mike Poore.

The four new locations will be in addition to the main early-voting site — the Pulaski County Regional Building, 501 W. Markham St., in downtown Little Rock.

Early voting for the special election begins at all sites on May 2. For the four locations added Tuesday, the hours for voting will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through May 5.

The four newly added sites are:

■ Sue Cowan Williams Library, 1800 S. Chester St., near Dunbar Middle School.

■ Southwest Community Center, 6401 Baseline Road.

■ Second Presbyterian Church’s Youth Center, 600 Pleasant Valley Drive.

■ West Central Community Center ( formerly the Rosedale Optimist Club), 4521 John Barrow Road.

Early voting at the Regional Building will be 8. a.m. to 5 p.m. May 2-5 and May 8.

Poore encouraged the commission to approve the additional sites, as did Neil Sealy, who is a leader in the campaign against the school district’s proposal for extending the tax.

“I do think it makes sense for our community,” Poore said. “We will have three strong polling spots along the interstate corridor in the central part of the city. We also have a spot on Interstate 30, off of Baseline, and the spot in the northwest. That all makes sense to me.”

Sealy concurred. “This is a good plan,” he said. “It does provide access to early voting in all sectors of our city and district.”

As a result of the Election Commission’s votes Tuesday, a fourth version of the Notice of Election for the special election will be published.

The first notice back in January was for a special election to be held March 14. The School District withdrew its request for that election date. Another notice was prepared for the May 9 special election. It included the Regional Building and the Sidney S. McMath Library, 2100 John Barrow Road, which was then omitted in a subsequent Notice of Election distributed April 10.