We are 54 days away from the midterm elections. It seems the closer we get to an election, the more questions we have. The Fayetteville Public Library and Jennifer Price, executive director of the Washington County Election Commission, will team up to answer any election, polling place or voting procedure question tomorrow night between 6 and 7 at the library. We invited Jennifer Price to come to the Anthony and Susan Hui News Studio last week to give us a preview of this public session. She was here on a pivotal day. It was the last one to confirm precinct changes and polling places.
Price: We're in the process of creating the ballots, testing the ballots, and our next big step is having the absentee ballots ready to go out to our UOCAVA voters on Sept. 18. This is our busy crunch time where we're having to make sure that all of that is done, but all of it's done accurately. And we've gone through all the steps to proof everything so that we know candidate names are spelled correctly, district relations to precincts are correct. And so that when a voter goes in to vote, they're receiving the correct ballot. And when they actually vote that ballot, their vote for their candidate is actually reflecting a vote for that candidate.
Kellams: I imagine most of us don't even think about how many different iterations of a Washington County ballot there can be, because I'm in one ward in one town, and here's my JP nominees and another. It's not just two or three different ballots.
Price: No, we have 240 different ballot faces. However, this is the smallest general election ballot that we had had in regards to issues. The four issues are not large. Typically they take up a page and a half of a ballot, but this year those issues are quite small. But the ballot is full of candidates. So voters are going to see a lot of candidates on that ballot when they go in to vote. So definitely looking up your ballot before you go to the polls is always so important.
Kellams: What will you be talking about when you're at the library on the 10th?
Price: So definitely we're going to talk about how the election process works here in Washington County. We're very fortunate that we are a program your own election, which means that we create the ballot in house. So we have so much more control of the timing and the testing of the ballots. And especially since we're a big county, making sure that we have the ballots ready for that Sept. 18 deadline, we're going to talk about that.
And then also the resources that voters can use to look up their sample ballot, to find their polling locations, check their voter registration and the importance of checking your voter registration before you head to the polls.
Kellams: When are the sample ballots available?
Price: So sample ballots will be available on VoterView. We're looking to have those available right around the same time we have the absentee ballots ready. So that should be around Sept. 16, 17 or 18, along that line.
Kellams: You mentioned this is crunch time because of all the proofreading and all the things that make sure. I doubt, though, it really slows down much between now and the first Tuesday of November.
Price: No it doesn't. We will have new poll worker training. We bring all of our supervisors back in because we need to talk to them about, here's what went great for the primary election. Here's some changes from the primary election to the general election, because they are two different types of elections. Here's what we're expecting at the polls during early vote and Election Day.
So we have poll worker training, we have supervisor training. And then of course, we have two weeks of early vote and just getting set up for early vote. And then of course, Election Day. So yes, our calendar is very full from here until actually until Nov. 13. Our calendar is very full.
Kellams: Of course, then there could be runoffs.
Price: Yes. So we definitely have the potential for runoffs for JP District 15, for Elm Springs mayor, for a Fayetteville Ward 4 and then Springdale has two ward races that both could go to a runoff.
Kellams: When you do some of this outreach, and I know you do a lot like you're going to do at the library, a lot of people come with questions.
Price: They do. They come with questions, and they definitely come with concerns. Because elections are done here locally, we have a lot of control over the setup of the ballots and the creation of the ballots and the testing and the poll workers. But we have to follow Arkansas state law, and we follow the guidance of the State Board of Election Commissioners and the Secretary of State.
But if you're just a casual voter who is not necessarily one who votes in every single election, but you vote in the general election because you realize the importance of voting, you may be watching the national news. And when you're watching the national news, there's a lot of talk about different types of elections, different types of voting, the different authority levels on the national level. And so I always like to kind of answer voters' questions about that because they may be hearing a story about voting, but that story may be in Arizona, and we don't vote the same way as Arizona does.
One of the key tools that we have for voters is VoterView. VoterView is tied to our voter registration system. It allows the voter to check their voter registration status, make sure they are still eligible to vote. It allows the voter to check to make sure that their address is correct. It will let the voter see all the early vote and Election Day sites, and then they can look at that sample ballot. We place on VoterView the sample ballot. That is the ExpressVote, the ballot that if you're voting in person, you're going to see.
So that way, when a voter is looking at that ballot on VoterView, when they get to the polls, the screens are going to look exactly the same. And so VoterView is a great tool. Of course, the Election Commission always is willing to answer questions. Our website is full of all of this information, and then links to all the different websites that you would want to go to.
Kellams: I've known this in the past, excuse me for asking this again, but when you go to VoterView, if I put in my name and my address, then it will show me, right? Because not everyone remembers what city council ward they might be in because maybe they didn't vote last time, or it's been four years or whatever. That VoterView will take them to the proper ward and JP district.
Price: Yeah. So it's really easy. You're going to put in your first, your last name and your date of birth. And then it's going to pull up your information. It'll show the address that we have you registered at. And then it will show you what districts you are eligible to vote in. And it'll show you a sample ballot.
And it's so important to look at those districts. A lot of times we see that candidates put up signs all over the county. Well, maybe a neighbor is really good friends with a candidate who's running. And so you may see a sign for a candidate in your neighborhood every day you go into the polls and that candidate's not on your ballot. But if you go to VoterView, it's going to show you exactly what is on your ballot.
And then the great thing is, if you think we have the information wrong, it lets you know when you get to the polling location. Oh, wait, I thought I remembered I was supposed to get to vote for a certain JP or a certain state rep, and then you can come to us and we're happy to investigate to see what might have happened. And so VoterView definitely is a great tool.
Kellams: Thank you so much for your time.
Price: You're welcome.
Kellams: Get some rest.
Price: Yes.
Jennifer Price, executive director of the Washington County Election Commission. She'll answer voting questions tomorrow night from 6 until 7 at the Fayetteville Public Library. That event open to the public, no charge.
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