Early voters undeterred by long lines, wait
The larger- than- expected turnout of nearly 12,000 voters since early voting began on Oct. 20 has astounded Garland County Election Commission officials.
“Through the close of voting Thursday, a total of 11,838 people have voted,” said GCEC Chairwoman Ginna Watson, who anticipates the total will reach at least 13,000 before early voting ends Monday.
The final day of early voting will take place from 8 a. m. to 5 p. m. Monday at the Garland County Election Commission Building, 649-A Ouachita Ave., the Old Armory, 401 Mid-America Blvd., and Faith Fellowship Church, 3213 Highway 7 north.
Polls for the general election and nonpartisan judicial runoff will be open Tuesday from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and anyone in line when the polls close will be able to vote, Watson has said. A complete list of Tuesday’s polling locations is published in today’s edition of The Sentinel-Record.
With such a large turnout for early voting, voters have experienced long lines and wait times of up to an hour, but Watson said voters “are being very accepting of the lines.”
“Some of them do have to leave and every once in a while,
we’ll make an announcement that if they have to leave, be sure to check out like they checked in and we explain why we need them to do that. They have been very cooperative,” she said.
Watson said the turnout at the election commission building has been about 2-to-1 compared to Faith Fellowship Church and 3-to-1 compared to the Old Armory.
“We’ve been the most active, hands down. We had 732 yesterday (Thursday), 776 on Wednesday and 770 on Tuesday. Faith Fellowship had 362 one day, which I think was their biggest day, and the Armory had 233 one day,” she said.
While the voting process has gone smoothly, Watson said there have been a “lot of complaints” from voters about candidate’s supporters electioneering on the parking lot.
“They’ll come in and complain and we explain that as long as the people are outside the 100foot marker, they are legal. We’ve also had some problems with electioneering as far as the little cards handed to voters suggesting who to vote for. Voters will leave them in the restrooms, lying around various places so other voters can see them, or on the table where our sample ballots are. We have to be diligent and every few minutes walk around and see where they have been left. They’ll even drop them on the floor … all kinds of things,” Watson said.
Watson said there have been no additional voting machine problems, and she has teams standing by with extra rolls of paper for the Ivotronic voting machines so that when one gets close to running out, it can be changed immediately.
“It’s amazing how smooth things have been running. I’m just waiting for the sky to fall,” she said.
With about 62,000 registered voters in the county, and only about 13,000 voting early, Watson said she still anticipates a large turnout Tuesday.
“Typically, we have 50 percent early and absentee voting, and with 62,400 registered voters, we haven’t even taken care of 12,000 yet,” she said Friday.
Contested races that may be drawing the larger-than-normal turnout include the Garland County sheriff’s race with three candidates, the Hot Springs mayor’s race with three candidates, the state Senate and House races, governor’s race, and nationally, the 4th Congressional District and U.S. Senate races.