County hoping for voting-machine funding

BENTONVILLE -- Legislators expressed varying degrees of confidence Monday that Benton County will receive state money to pay for new voting machines.

General Assembly

The Arkansas Legislature is set to meet in regular session beginning Jan. 9, 2017. Benton County election officials and local lawmakers say they will work to obtain funding for new voting machines from the state.

Source: Staff report

Voting equipment was among the topics discussed Thursday in a meeting of the Legislative Joint Budget Committee. The state has provided money to a handful of counties, including Washington County, as a pilot program to test new voting machines. Money for a statewide program of new machines has been approved but never funded.

State Sen. Uvalde Lindsey, D-Fayetteville, said he thinks the prospects of getting money in the upcoming session of the General Assembly are good, but the final decision will be up to the secretary of state's office.

"My supposition is there will be funding for the new equipment," Lindsey said. "The secretary of state has the authority over whether and how that money is spent."

Lindsey said there is a general consensus among lawmakers that new machines are needed, but how quickly a new system can be put in place statewide remains uncertain.

"What we have is unsupported," Lindsey said of the existing voting machines. "It's out of date. How quickly it's replaced is up to the secretary of state."

Benton County election officials said they hope to have new equipment soon. Kim Dennison, election coordinator, said the county has discovered mechanical issues with 16 of the 489 older-model voting machines used in the Nov. 8 general election. Dennison also said about half of the machines the county uses are not covered by maintenance contracts.

John Brown Jr., a member of the Benton County Election Commission, said the older machines are based on an operating system no longer supported by the manufacturer and one that is incompatible with new equipment, meaning the county can't operate with a mixture of old and new voting machines.

"The equipment is going to break down with age," Brown said. "We don't have the money to buy 400-plus new machines."

Jennifer Price, Washington County's election coordinator, said the new voting machines worked well.

"Once you set up the new equipment, it's easy to use," she said. "I think one of the features the voters really liked is they get a printed ballot so they can review their ballot before their ballot is cast. Essentially, the ExpressVote is a fancy ballot-marking device. It marks the ballot for you, and then it's counted."

Price said Washington County received about $1 million from the state and spent about $650,000 in county money to purchase 307 ExpressVote machines and 50 DS200 "ballot box" machines. She said the initial review of the general election indicated the county probably needs 20 to 30 more machines.

Dennison said Benton County has planned to buy 475 new voting machines, which will cost about $2.6 million. She said obtaining the new equipment in an "off year" with no statewide elections will ease the job of training election staff and the county's 600 poll workers.

"I'd hate for them to show up on my doorstep and have an election three months later," Dennison said.

Brenda Guenther, comptroller, said the county has set aside about $481,077 for possible use in 2017 for the machines.

State Rep. Dan Douglas, R-Bentonville, said area legislators are supportive but the problem is money. Douglas said the Legislature will have competing demands on limited revenue, adding money for voting machines may be reduced.

"The governor is talking about a $50 million tax cut," Douglas said. "My simple opinion is we can't buy voting machines, provide the essential services we have to provide for and do a $50 million tax cut. I'm all for tax cuts, but there's got to be a corresponding cut in spending somewhere."

State Sen Cecile Bledsoe, R-Rogers, said she's optimistic Benton County will receive money to obtain new machines next year. Bledsoe said the money might be available through the state's general improvement fund. She said the size of Benton County's needs makes it difficult for the county to be part of a pilot program like Washington County.

"What I understand is that, specifically, Benton County is not getting any money for a pilot program," Bledsoe said. "They did the pilot program for 10 or 11 counties of different sizes. They did Washington County, but that was about $1 million less than what Benton County needs."

State Desk on 11/22/2016

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