Redistricting map presented

Officials may have final draft ready by end of October

— A draft map showing a possible configuration of the county’s justice of the peace districts was presented to the Benton County Election Commission on Thursday.

The map outlines the 15 justice of the peace districts the county will have beginning in 2013.

Benton County now has 13 justice of the peace districts, but the results of the 2010 U.S. Census require the county to add two to accommodate the growing population. The first set of maps was drawn by the County Clerk’s Office. A second is being developed by the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission, according to Duane Neal, who serves on a committee appointed by the Election Commission to oversee the process. Neal said the regional planners are still working on maps for Washington County and the new Benton County maps may not be available for another week or more.

He said it is still possible the county may have a proposal ready for adoption by the end of October. Neal said the county will have no incumbents running against another justice of the peace, but there will be at least three open seats - the two new districts plus the district now represented by Justice of the Peace Dan Douglas, who has announced his candidacy for the state House of Representatives.The new justices of the peace will be elected in 2012 and take office in 2013.

John Brown Jr., Election Commission chairman, said he plans to have public hearings on the proposals and to meet with the county’s justices of the peace before making a final decision.

“We intend to have some public meetings before we go to the Quorum Court,” Brown said. “We’ll let everybody know what’s going on. Hopefully, the majority of them will be happy.”

Also on Thursday, the commission approved a list of election officials for the Sept. 20 school elections and certified the logic and accuracy testing results for the county’s voting machines that will be used in the Sept. 13 bond election in Rogers.

Brown also told the board the county will have two elections Nov. 8 - one for Lowell on the extension of a 1 percent sales and use tax and the second for a statewide bond election.

The commission briefly discussed availability ofpaper ballots during elections and voted to change what had been the practice of the commission. Christine Southard, administrative assistant to County Clerk Tena O’Brien, said the past practice was that paper ballots were available, but voters had to ask for them. No notice of availability was posted and voters were not asked if they wanted to vote electronically or with paper ballots.

The commission voted unanimously to provide voters some notice of the availability of paper ballots. The change should take effect as soon as practical, according to Brown.

Commissioner Robbyn Tumey said it was a matter of efficiency for her.

“When you’ve got long lines, I think we should offer paper ballots,” Tumey said. “I hate to see people standing in line.”

News, Pages 5 on 09/07/2011