County Clerk Shannon Phillips paid a visit to the Union County Quorum Court Thursday in their regular meeting to address concerns with new electronic voting machines given to the county by the state.
Last June, the Quorum Court approved the new machines after an offer to provide the machines at almost no cost to the county was extended by the Arkansas Secretary of State’s office.
Phillips said the new equipment had been delivered and was being put together that day. Union County received 54 ExpressVote voting machines, 20 DS-200 Precinct Scanners (vote tabulators), 38 ExpressPoll poll books and other necessary attachments.
Phillips said that the 20 vote tabulators might not be enough for Union County. With 19 polling sites, along with early and absentee voters, the county is one short of what would be ideal so no polling sites have to share a tabulator. She also expressed concern about what the county might do if one of the tabulators was to malfunction.
“They did not send one to be specified for absentee ballots and they sent us nothing for back up if one breaks down,” she said. “So, I’m a little concerned with us not having a back up.”
Additionally, Sonny Ward, Union County election coordinator, said that when the machines were delivered, two had cracked cases and one of the tabulators wasn’t working; he noted that the state plans to replace those machines.
He said the county might also want to purchase a tote that will catch votes when they are ejected from the tabulator; otherwise, the votes will just fall out and may be easy to lose.
“That’s another talk we’re going to have to have: it looks like a trash can with the tabulator sitting on it,” Ward said. “That ballot’s just going to fall down in that trashcan unless you have something to catch it.”
Phillips agreed that the county needed something to catch the votes, as every vote cast must be kept in case a recount is necessary.
“You’re going to have to go through an election to see what the problems are and that election is going to be your presidential primary,” she said.
The Quorum Court did not take any action on Phillips’ concerns Thursday, instead tabling the issue for a future date. Phillips noted that with the new electronic poll books, residents must be registered to vote with their current address; otherwise, they will have to vote on provisional ballots.
“There’s going to be a lot of changes,” Phillips said. “It’s probably going to slow down voting.”
She said the county is also looking for new poll captains and workers, as many that previously took those jobs did not want to learn how to administrate the new machines.
After that, David Oliver, security administrator at the Delek: El Dorado Refinery, presented a request on behalf of the corporation for a portion of Hinson Road.
“[We want to close this section of Hinson Road] in the interest of public safety, so we ensure the community and any unsuspecting motorists don’t get caught up in any kind of incident that, even though unlikely, could occur there, because of their unsuspecting, unknowing what we do there, how we do it,” Oliver said. “Plus on the public response side of that, in the unlikely event that something was going to happen there and we need access to there, some of the people and the community like to go along that road and park there, not realizing what kind of danger could be there.”
Oliver asked the Quorum Court if Delek could close off about 1,600 feet of Hinson Road. He said Delek owns the property on either side of that section of Hinson.
The portion of Hinson they are requesting would start about a quarter mile from the intersection of Robert E. Lee Street and Hinson Road, where Delek Transportation is located, and would end on the north side of Friendship Primitive Baptist Church.
Oliver said the inconvenience to residents and businesses in the area would be minimal, saying that those affected would be able to take Buchanan Road instead. Oliver said the difference in distance would only be three-quarters of a mile.
“There’s certain regulations that we have to follow, that we have to address any vulnerabilities, and for our operations there, even though we address it, we would like to mitigate it even further in the further interests of safety for the community and in the interest of addressing those vulnerabilities for the refinery,” Oliver said.
At that point, Patricia Brantley, owner of Orrell’s Garage on Hinson Road as well as a residence in the area, spoke up. She said the difference in distance is actually over three miles; she was adamant that blocking off that portion of Hinson would be detrimental to both her business and the tenants of the house she owns in that area.
“I have parts deliveries and they’d have to go all the way around there and all the way around back,” Brantley said. “You’re really making a dent on a business. … and my new renters oppose it.”
She said the El Dorado School District also utilizes that stretch of road for bus transportation. She said access to one of the refinery’s pipelines is on her property and that she would be willing to revoke their access privileges if that section of road is closed.
“You are aware, you have a large pipeline running behind my property and the access to it is on my property,” she said. “My first husband, who’s deceased now, Skipper Orrell, had given them access to the pipeline. Well, there’s nothing in writing or anything, so if you’re going to shut the road down, how’re you going [to get there?]”
Rodney Tubbs, who lives on Smoky Road, which connects to Hinson, also said he would be inconvenienced if the road was closed.
“The El Dorado School District does still come out in that direction, and I live just below where she lives at on Smoky Road, just off Hinson Road, and that will inconvenience me if that road is cut off,” Tubbs said.
District 4 Justice of the Peace Dean Storey presented a petition to the Quorum Court asking them not to close the road. He said he already had 95 signatures from Union County residents opposing the road closure.
“Many of the people who live on this road are elderly and require ambulance service often. Time is of the essence in a lot of these situations,” the petition reads. “Hinson Road was constructed decades before the refinery was built, and no accident records have been established on this section of Hinson Road.”
District 6 JP Cecil Polk suggested the other JPs drive out that way to see the section of road Oliver asked about themselves. The Quorum Court agreed to table the issue for the time being, but discussions continued.
A Union County resident who asked not to be named brought up safety issues that he thinks could arise as a result of the road closure. Oliver said at least one side of the portion of road would be closed off with an electronic gate. The man said if the refinery had some sort of emergency that required evacuation, the electronic gate could slow them down, or worse, stop an evacuation completely if the electricity goes down.
Oliver said the gate would be configured so that it could be opened manually in the event of an electricity outage. Primm also spoke up, saying that if the refinery uses hydrogen peroxide in any of their processes, an accident could lead to devastation.
“We’re all looking at instantaneous death of the bus or whatever vehicle is there,” Primm said.
At that point the meeting adjourned, with the JPs planning to revisit the issue at their next meeting.
Caitlan Butler can be reached at 870-862-6611 or [email protected].