FAYETTEVILLE -- The results of the June 21 Republican runoff election were certified as final and official Friday, with Washington County election officials saying the outcomes were unchanged from the election day tally.
The Election Commission certified the results at a meeting Friday afternoon. Jennifer Price, the commission's executive director, told commissioners the deadline had passed for any overseas ballots to be returned. Price said there had been one absentee ballot outstanding, but it wasn't received by the county before Friday's meeting.
"That one absentee ballot outstanding was not returned so nothing has changed since yesterday," Price told the commissioners.
The commission met Thursday and accepted two provisional ballots to be added to the election day totals. In both cases, the voters requested absentee ballots but voted in person and were told they had to vote with a provisional ballot. Once it was determined the absentee ballots hadn't been returned, the in-person votes were eligible to be counted.
The Election Commission spent most of its Friday meeting discussing possible changes in voting locations for the Nov. 8 general election. Price said she was looking at four voting locations that might need to be changed.
One location, the Archer Learning Center in Springdale, was being considered for closing after election workers weren't allowed into the space until five minutes before voting was to begin on election day in the recent primary election, Price said. The school official who was scheduled to allow the election workers into the facility at 6:30 a.m. didn't arrive until 7:25 a.m., she said.
Price said if the polling place hadn't been open at 7:30 a.m. the county could have been in violation of numerous election laws. As it happened, she said, poll workers were able to get into the space and there were no voters waiting.
"It worries me," Price said. "We were lucky. We had a good team and they were able to get set up. And the first voter didn't show up until 10. We won't get that lucky twice."
Another Springdale location that could be closed is the Springdale Recreation Center. Price said poll workers and voters have complained about the noise at the facility from basketball, soccer and other activities scheduled during the time the vote center is open.
Price said she has been looking at possible alternative locations for both those Springdale vote centers.
Commissioners were also told construction planned at the Yvonne Richardson Center in Fayetteville might necessitate it being left off the list of vote centers for the Nov. 8 election. Price said she'll meet with Fayetteville officials to try to get a firm schedule for the work planned at the center.
The fourth location under review is the Wedington Fire Department building. Price said she has difficulty finding poll workers who live in the area and others have been reluctant to travel there, preferring to work at locations nearer to their own homes.
The commission authorized Price to work with the current locations on the problems she identified and to explore alternatives if needed. The commission will meet Sept. 7 to set the vote center locations for the Nov. 8 election.
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NoneElection results
Results from Washington County’s May 24 primary elections and the June 21 runoff election can be found on the county’s website at washingtoncountyar.gov under the Election Commission.
Source: Washington County