SULPHUR SPRINGS — Anna and Wayne Emanuel of Sulphur Springs attended a recent meeting of the Benton County Election Commission with one thing on their minds.

The couple hoped their presence, along with 42 names they had collected on a petition, would be enough to keep the Sulphur Springs polling place at the city’s community center open.

“We feel like we have enough of a community out there to keep our polling place,” Anna Emanuel said.

After discussion, commissioners decided the Sulphur Springs polling place, along with those in Cherokee City, Maysville and Gateway, will not open election day.

Residents of Sulphur Springs and Maysville will vote in Gravette. Cherokee City residents will vote in Decatur. People who call Gateway home will vote in Garfield.

E. J. Miller, commission chairman, said he began researching which places could consolidate more than a year ago.

Several criteria were used to select the places to consolidate. Those include the number of voters at each precinct, driving distances to new locations, costs and the need for more technically savvy pollworkers, Miller said.

Miller said the price to open each precinct is a minimum of $3,000, so consolidating smaller polling places with larger ones saves money.

With each polling location opening at least five times a year, the four consolidations will save about $60,000 a year.

“In today’s economical times, that is a lot of money,” Miller said. “We, the commission, recognize that some of the locations proposed (to close) are going to be an inconvenience to some voters, but the world is made up of inconveniences.”

Each place the commission voted to close had less than 500 voters.

“We have a responsibility to conduct elections and that is what we are doing here. We no longer have the luxury of the costs or the personnel to open all of these locations,” said Bill Williams, election commissioner.

Williams said he was impressed by the reaction Sulphur Springs residents showed to their pollingplace closing, but it was not enough to keep it open.

“It would be unfair for us to exempt someone from consolidation simply because they are nice people and they care about their community,” Williams said, noting he reluctantly supported the consolidation.

Tim Hutchinson was the only commissioner who voted against closing the Sulphur Springs location.

“Economically, it makes sense (to consolidate the polling locations). It is not much of an inconvenience for the voters, but Sulphur is a unique town,” Hutchinson said. “They are the only community that stepped forward and opposed it. Forty-two signatures is pretty good for a town of that size.”

Miller said the decision to close the locations was best for voters of Benton County.

“This has been a very difficult decision for us. It was not something that was done just for the fun of doing it. IT was a business decision,” Miller said.

That was not a consolidation for the Emanuels.

“I am sad. I am tearful and I am disappointed,” Anna Emanuel said. She has been voting at the Sulphur Springs Community Building since 1963.

Miller also said consolidating locations has never been done in Benton County and it has been a learning experience for commissioners.

Based on how well the consolidations go, as many as 12 others could be consolidated with larger ones next year, Miller said.

Those locations are in cave Springs, Highfill, Vaughn, Avoca, four in Rogers and four in Siloam Springs.

The locations in Rogers are the Southside Church of Christ, the first United Methodist Church and two precincts that vote at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.

The locations in Siloam Springs are the Logan Community Building, the Robertson Community Building and two precincts at St. Mary’s Catholic Parish.

Each will be looked at before the commission makes a decision on consolidation, Hutchinson said.

Williams and Miller said the decisions to close the four locations this year was not made lightly.

Opinion, Pages 7 on 02/17/2010