Early voting for the May 22 primary election will begin tomorrow at 8 a.m. in the county clerk’s office at the Union County Courthouse. The two-week early voting period will end May 21.
Beginning tomorrow, the county clerk’s office will be open for early voters from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both Saturdays and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 21.
Union County Clerk Shannon Phillips said early voting is available to everyone in Union County, no matter what their assigned voting site is. Under state law, voters must provide a valid photo ID, such as a driver’s license.
“It helps us locate them quickly because we take that driver’s license and we are able to get your date of birth off of it,” Phillips said. “We can verify your address, your name and your date of birth … all of that information is right there.”
This is also the way the office verifies that a person is registered to vote.
Voters will need to know what primary they are going to vote in: nonpartisan, Democratic or Republican. Depending on what district, ward or city each voter lives in, ballots will include the following races:
Democratic ballot:
• Governor: Jared K. Henderson or Leticia Sanders.
• Union County tax collector: Karen Scott or incumbent Paula Beard.
• Alderman for the city of El Dorado, Ward 3, Position 2: Andre Rucks or Tony Henry.
Republican ballot:
• United States Congress, District 4: Randy Caldwell or incumbent Rep. Bruce Westerman.
• Governor: Jan Morgan or incumbent Asa Hutchinson.
• Secretary of State: John Thurston or Trevor Drown.
• Quorum Court Justice of the Peace, District 10: Bret Garrett or Donald Brock.
• Mayor of the city of El Dorado: Christopher Lutman, incumbent Frank R. Hash or Bill Luther.
All ballots, regardless of party, also will include the nonpartisan judicial and school board races, which include:
• State Supreme Court Associate Justice, Position 3: David Sterling, Kenneth Hixson or Courtney Goodson.
• Smackover-Norphlet School Board, Zone 3, five-year term: Lynn Birchfield or Nathaniel J. Smith.
• Parkers Chapel School Board #35, Position 2, five-year term: Wes Taylor or Bonnie B. Fish.
Tax issues also will be listed on the ballot for each of the following school districts: El Dorado - 33.5 mill school tax; Parkers Chapel - 39.8 mill school tax; Junction City - 40.9 mill school tax; Smackover-Norphlet - 41 mill school tax; and Strong Huttig - 39 mill school tax.
None of the rates have changed from the previous year.
Phillips said in this election, there are 26 different ballot styles. All of the different ballot styles depend on where a voter lives and what primary they vote in. For instance, voters who live outside of El Dorado Ward 3 will not vote in the El Dorado Ward 3 alderman race, nor will voters within the ward who choose a Republican ballot as it is a race between two Democratic candidates.
“We don’t register people in the state of Arkansas under a party, so it’s strictly choice when you come in the door what you want,” Phillips said.
At the courthouse, outside of the county clerk’s office, voters can see ballot examples.
Phillips said normally the county clerk’s office would have around 5,000 early voters, “depending on the races.”
“Normally, we see a lot more people coming to register to vote and we have not had a lot of people registering,” she said. “I’m just completely blind as to what kind of turnout to expect.”
She also noted that this will be the first year that the school elections are in with the primary, “so that’s going to be a learning experience for all of us.”
“I think a lot of people come to early voting simply because it’s the fastest,” Phillips said. “Instead of the long lines you might run into at the polling sites, because they’re working with less machines, we have five or six machines set up and you just come in and we get you in a booth real quick so it’s a lot faster.”
Phillips said her biggest concern for all of the elections are the 911 address changes. The office will be putting everything in with the old addresses and, for anyone affected by the change, there will be a card to fill out so the new address can be put into the system.
“It is an IT issue between us and the state that’s going to have to be worked out next year,” Phillips said. “We just don’t want to try to start something in the middle of an election season.”
The county clerk’s office also has absentee ballots available to be picked up starting Monday. If someone is unable to physically go to a polling site and vote, they can have someone pick up an absentee ballot, which has step-by-step instructions on each envelope and must be returned on or before May 22.
Also, a voter may request assistance of another individual to help them vote during early voting and election day. One individual can help up to six people vote, so they have to keep record of who assisted who in voting.
“(The county clerk’s office) has worked really hard to try to make sure that everything is in place so that they get to vote the way they’re supposed to,” Phillips said. “We want everybody that leaves here to be happy with their choices because that’s what is important to us the most because people actually voice who they want. That’s what it’s supposed to be about and we do everything that we can to accommodate that.”
Kaitlyn Rigdon can be reached at 870-862-6611 or [email protected].