Commission sets poll sites for school board elections
Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/67373/
The Washington County Election Commission voted to open seven poll sites by zone for the Fayetteville Board of Education election on Sept. 16.
Six candidates are vying to fill a three-year unexpired term for at-large Position 1. Two candidates are also running for at-large Position 2.
The poll sites will be as follows for Fayetteville:
• Zone 1 — Northeast Baptist Church
• Zone 2 — The Presbyterian Church and Goshen Community Center
• Zone 3 — Covenant Church and Wiggins Methodist Church
• Zone 4 — Trinity Methodist Church and Sequoyah Methodist Church
• Zone 5 — Central United Methodist Church
Commissioners had pondered opening more poll sites by city precincts, but staff indicated that would be impractical given the time before the election.
“ If it was technically feasible, I’d be for it, ” Commission Chairman John Logan Burrow said.
“ We’re better off being consistent in a goofy system, ” Commissioner Tom Lundstrum Jr. said.
The commission also set the order in which candidates’ names will appear on the ballot for the election by drawing numbers.
For at-large Position 1, the order of the candidates will be Jeanie Hill, Mike Malony, Jim Halsell, Stacy Furlow, Conrad Odom and Joe Lee.
For at-large Position 2, the candidates will be listed with James McGinty first and incumbent Susan Heil second.
For other contested elections, the commission is opening one poll site in Prairie Grove at the First Baptist Church and one site in West Fork at the West Fork Community Center.
The commission will open the Lincoln Community Center and Morrow Fire Station for Lincoln’s election.
For the Springdale at-large race between James McGinnis and Jeffrey A. Williams, the commission will open seven poll sites based on school zone.
Springdale’s sites will be as follows:
• Zone 1 — First Nazarene
• Zone 2 — Springdale Youth Center
• Zone 3 — Elmdale Baptist Church
• Zone 4 — John Powell Senior Center
• Zone 5 — Turner Street Baptist Church, First United Methodist Church and the Nob Hill Fire Station
The commission also heard a request from University of Arkansas students to open an early-voting poll site for elections on campus in the Arkansas Union. The students said UA administrators supported the effort.
Burrow offered that staff could visit the location to see how suitable it would be as an early-voting site.
He warned, however, that the estimated cost to open a new site is $ 16, 000 — money the commission doesn’t have budgeted this year. He said UA support would be needed.
A potential benefit, though, is it could decrease early-voting traffic at the Washington County Clerk’s Office, Burrow said.
“ I’m personally willing to entertain the notion, ” he said.