County accepts offer to pay for voting machines

EL DORADO — Union County will get new voting equipment from the state at almost no cost.

Kelly Boyd, chief deputy with the secretary of state’s office, and representatives from each town in Union County attended a special meeting of the Quorum Court on Wednesday to discuss acquiring new voting machines and address any concerns about them.

The situation began in May, when the state offered to pay half the cost of new voting machines for the county. The offer was rescinded after Boyd expressed frustration at comments made by a Union County official to the News-Times concerning reported problems with the equipment that was offered.

Boyd then offered the equipment again on June 6 with the state willing to pay 100 percent of the cost, which would be around $440,000.

But Boyd then rescinded that offer, only to have Quorum Court member Dean Storey report at last week’s Quorum Court meeting that it was still “on the table.”

“I wanted to meet with all of you face to face,” Boyd said Wednesday. “I created a controversy and I did not mean to. Please accept my apology.”

Boyd said he rescinded the offer because he didn’t want Union County to feel obligated to purchase the equipment.

Boyd also said the office has enough money to pay the equivalent for Union County and one other county. He said the reason Union County is first on the list is because the state paid 100 percent for Columbia County and Ouachita County, and all three southern Arkansas counties were using a different type of equipment.