Officials eye ways to pay for voting equipment

BENTONVILLE -- Benton County officials will look at other ways to pay for new voting equipment because state matching money is uncertain. They hope to avoid a return to paper ballots and precinct-based voting.

"I don't want to take a step backwards," said Tom Allen, justice of the peace and chairman of the Finance Committee. "I don't want to see us go back to paper ballots and voting by precinct."

County officials hoped Gov. Asa Hutchinson might release some money for counties to buy voting equipment. Hutchinson told a gathering of officials at a recent Association of Arkansas Counties meeting there were other demands on the available money and he couldn't say money would be available for new voting machines.

Benton County had drafted a $2.6 million list of new equipment to replace 20-year-old voting machines and other equipment now in use. With state money unavailable, at least for now, that list has been pared down to equipment county election officials think is the minimum needed for the 2018 election year. The cost is estimated at $1.5 million. Officials expect a smaller turnout in 2018 than the 97,738 people who voted in 2016 because there is no presidential contest. An additional 175 voting machines with a cost of about $750,000 would be needed for the 2020 presidential election year.

The county would decrease the number of election day vote centers from 44 to 35 and reduce the number of voting machines needed on election day from 475 to 300 under the $1.5 million plan.

Kim Dennison, election coordinator, said new equipment could increase the number of early voting sites since the voting machines can be used in early voting and election day voting.

"The new machines don't store any votes internally like the old ones do," Dennison said.

Allen wants to see the new list of equipment and cost estimates and have information on ways the county could finance the purchase. Brenda Guenther, comptroller, said the county has budgeted for about $14 million in unappropriated reserve for the end of 2017, but the new courts project is expected to take up a large part of that fund. The county may have other capital needs as well.

"We have talked about funding the purchase over three, four or five years," Guenther said. "In general, it would have to come from the reserves or from turnback money, but with all the other demands, including the new courthouse, we think financing may be a good option."

The county will return to paper ballots and precinct-based voting instead of vote centers if the money is not available, Dennison said. The number of possible ballot styles is estimated at more than 1,300 because of changes in election laws that place school elections on the same days as primary and general elections. That total exceeds the memory of the flash drives in the older machines. The county had 338 ballot styles for the 2016 primary election and 200 different ballot styles for the 2016 general election.

The county would need most of its older 462 machines on election day, Dennison said. That would reduce off-site early voting locations from the seven that were used in 2016. Early voting also was available at the three offices of the County Clerk. There could be more off-site early voting locations if suitable places can be found and if the new equipment is available, Dennison said.

County Judge Barry Moehring said he will continue to work to obtain state money to offset the cost of new machines, since it was a decision by the state that placed the financial burden on the county. Election officials have to prepare alternatives and the Quorum Court will decide how and when to pay for the new equipment, he said.

"We do need to come up with a plan for 2018," Moehring said. "We need to have that plan ready in the next couple of months so it can be executed for voting next year. We don't want to disappoint voters by going back to paper ballots and precincts, but the reality is this is a hit to our reserves of more than $2 million. The full amount is still that $2 million-plus figure. It's is a real issue that is ultimately a Quorum Court decision."

VOTER TURNOUT

Benton County had 144,079 registered voters at the time of the 2016 general election, and 97,738 people cast ballots in that election. Of the total votes cast, 66,721, or 68 percent, were cast during the early voting period, according to the Benton County clerk.

Source: Staff report

General News on 08/30/2017