Officials eye election plans

Special measures aimed at preventing virus spread

FAYETTEVILLE — Officials said Wednesday they’ll use an Aug. 11 special election to test measures intended to limit the risk of spreading covid-19 during voting.

Jennifer Price, election director for Washington County, briefed the Election Commission on how she plans to manage the voting process with a minimum of contact between voters and election workers.

Price said the Aug. 11 election, on the question of annexing Bethel Heights into Springdale, will be used as a guide for the Nov. 3 general election.

Price showed the commissioners plastic screens the county has obtained to separate voters and election workers and said voters will be guided by signs explaining what they are to do at the different stations, from checking in to casting their ballots. All of the information will also be posted on the Washington County website.

“What this is, essentially, is a rundown of all the procedures we will use” Renee Oelschlaeger, commission chairman said Wednesday. “The voters will be able to view online and familiarize themselves with the steps we’re taking.”

Commissioner Max Deitchler asked Price to add information regarding the wearing of face masks. The county won’t require election workers to wear face masks, although masks will be made available to them. Voters can’t be required to wear masks, Price said, and Deitchler said he wanted to make sure voters were aware of that.

“We want to make it as clear as possible so people can decide to cast an absentee ballot if they want to,” Deitchler said.

The commission discussed a proposal to ask state election officials to allow absentee ballots to be processed beginning on the Monday before the November election. Normally, absentee ballots are counted on election day, but Price said with the potential for larger numbers of absentee ballots during the covid-19 pandemic, more time may be needed.

Price said she’s working with election officials in other counties on a request for Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Secretary of State John Thurston about extending the time.

Price said the county has just received a new vote-counting machine. She said she has been told the machine can process between 1,500 and 2,000 ballots in an hour, but she isn’t sure that rate can be reached with ballots that have been folded and sent through the mail.

“These are not pristine ballots,” she said.

In the 2016 presidential election, Washington County had about 1,800 absentee ballots. Price said the Washington

County Clerk’s Office has already received more than 1,300 requests for absentee ballots for the November election. The county has more than 130,000 registered voters.

Benton County is working to mirror what is being done in Washington County for the Aug. 11 special election and for the Nov. 3 general election, according to Kim Dennison, election coordinator. Dennison said the Benton County Clerk’s Office has already received about 2,500 absentee ballot requests for the November election.

In the 2016 general election, Dennison said, the county had about 2,600 absentee ballots. Benton County has about 165000 registered voters.