FAYETTEVILLE -- Washington County's election offices will soon be moved from the County Courthouse to a new home in the building housing the Road Department, the Election Commission was told Tuesday.
County Judge Patrick Deakins said the county is "in critical mass" regarding office space and needs room in the courthouse to expand the Information Technology department.
"We are having extreme space issues in the county," Deakins said, noting the move to the Road Department is viewed as a temporary fix. "We are looking at getting the Election Commission into a space that can be more permanent."
Both the election and IT offices are housed on the first floor of the courthouse at 280 N. College Ave. The first floor of the building had some flooding damage on Dec. 24, and Deakins said with the work being done to remedy those problems, he and Lance Johnson, his chief of staff, took the opportunity to review both the current office space situation and future needs.
Deakins said his goal is to put the Election Commission in the proposed Emergency Operations Center the county is planning to build near the Road Department, which is at 2615 Brink Drive in the county's "South Campus," which also includes the Sheriff's Office, jail, Juvenile Detention Center and other county offices. The Quorum Court is set to consider spending $1 million for architectural and engineering work on the facility when the justices of the peace meet at 6 p.m. Thursday.
"Long-term, the Election Commission will have some space in there," Deakins said of the proposed Emergency Operations Center.
The Election Commission asked Deakins to consider the election schedule, particularly the 2024 presidential election cycle, which officially begins when the filing period opens in November 2023. The commission met Tuesday in the Quorum Court meeting room to discuss the office moving and also some details with the May 9 elections.
Max Deitchler, a commission member, said moving the offices out of the courthouse could create a host of problems ranging from a perceived lack of transparency, diminished public access and a heightened risk of error caused by moving ballots and election equipment among several different locations. Deitchler said most voters probably don't know where the Road Department is.
"I'm concerned about the additional burden on voters who want to talk to someone about elections," Deitchler said. "The Election Commission has been in the courthouse for decades and decades, as long as anyone's been alive."
Jenifer Price, elections director, said while most counties probably have election offices in the county courthouses, some don't. Pulaski, Sebastian and Benton counties all have their election commissions housed in different locations, she said.
Kim Dennison, Benton County's election director, said her offices and the Election Commission office have been in the county's annex building at 2109 W. Walnut St. in Rogers for five years. Before that, the offices were in the county's Bogle Building at 1204 S.W. 14th St. in Bentonville.
Deitchler and the other commissioners said they will work with Deakins on the move and hope to have some input on the design of the Emergency Operations Center.
"We will want to watch it at each stage of the development process," commission chairwoman Renee Oelschlaeger said.
Beth Coger, justice of the peace for District 10, and Jenny Flanagan with the Progressive Arkansas Women Political Action Committee, spoke about the plan to move the offices during the public comment period of Tuesday's meeting. Coger said the Emergency Operations Center was "pie in the sky" that won't be available for years, if at all. Both encouraged the commissioners to "push back" on the moving plan and try to keep the election offices in the County Courthouse.
"There is always a solution," Flanagan said. "It may not be the first one people see."
Election preparation
Washington County has tested and certified its electronic voting equipment for the May 9 school elections and special elections. The Election Commission on Tuesday approved the certification of the voting equipment and the list of poll workers for the election. Early voting for the May 9 elections begins May 2 and ends May 8.
Source: Washington County