BENTON COUNTY — The Benton County Election Commission will close four polling locations this year.

Sulphur Springs, Maysville, Cherokee City and Gateway residents will vote at different locations for the May primary elections, said E. J. Miller, election commission chairman.

Each of the locations to be consolidated with another location had fewer than 500 voters in the 2008 presidential election, Miller said.

Gateway residents will vote in Garfield. In 2008, Garfield had 370 voters, 262 of which voted during the election. As of Thursday, the precinct had 350 voters.

Cherokee City residents will vote in Decatur. Only 154 voters cast ballots in Cherokee City in 2008.

Sulphur Springs andMaysville residents will vote at the Gravette Community Center. In the 2008 election 285 votes were cast in Maysville and 372 were cast in Sulphur Springs.

Additional voters from Maysville and Sulphur Springs should not be a problem for the Gravette polling location, Miller said.

Commissioner Bill Williams said one of the objections to the consolidations will be the distance some voters will have to travel.

Christine Southard, a staff member of the County Clerk’s office, said residents who have difficulty traveling can request an absentee ballot be sent to themprior to election day.

Miller hopes people will take advantage of early voting. Residents will be able to cast ballots for the May primary from May 3 until May 17 if they opt to use early voting, Miller said.The primary election will be held May 18.

Election coordinator Helen Peltier said the changes are likely to cause uneasiness with the affected communities.

“I can certainly see the logic in (consolidating) Gateway and Garfield but I do not agree with Sulphur Springs being incorporated into Gravette,” Peltier said.

“The (election) sheriff from Sulphur Springs has already called and said she had got her crew ready, so they will take this as a pretty big loss,” Peltier said, adding losing a polling location can affect a sense of community.

Williams said the changes are being made to save money.

“It is simply fiscally irresponsible to maintain those small, lightly used polling places when we can pull them together and do a better job,” Williams said.

News, Pages 1 on 01/27/2010