Peltier picked as new election coordinator

— Benton County election commissioners unanimously voted Monday to recommend that Helen C. Peltier be the new county election coordinator.

The three-member county Election Commission - two Democrats and one Republican - considered 14 other applicants for the post.

The commission is responsible for conducting all elections in the county.

The election coordinator manages the day-to-day operations of the commission and supervises all election activities.

Charged with filling the election-coordinator position, Benton County Judge Dave Bisbee, the county's top political executive, said he will approve the unanimous recommendation of the commission.

"We sent a letter to the county judge today. As far as I can tell, it's a done deal," commission chairman Bill Williams said.

The letter to Bisbee read, in part:

"She (Peltier) is closely acquainted with the people and processes involved in recruiting, assigning and supervising poll workers. In addition, she has significant experience in many other aspects of the operations of the commission. Her experiences outside Benton County government have included years of performance in corporate business in managerial positions," the letter from the three commissioners to Bisbee states.

Now employed by the county, Peltier works in the clerical pool and has worked with the Election Commission for more than two years.

In a recent letter to the commission, Peltier noted her experience, including recruiting precinct workers, finding precinct locations, preparing Election Commission orders and documenting precinct procedures.

"A very large part of what we do has to do with the 650 or so poll workers we have," Williams said. "Helen is very familiar with them and very familiar with the procedures needed to get them all lined up in the polling places."

Community, Pages 8 on 07/29/2009