During election season, just about any spot can turn into a polling booth. A community center, a church gymnasium, a physical therapy office. The Janelle Y. Hembree Alumni House on the University of Arkansas campus is another one of those spots. Barbara Verdery is the poll supervisor for this location. She says voting here has plenty of perks.
“This center, being here at the university, at the Alumni Center, is very inviting. We have plenty of parking. We don’t have to worry about a car getting ticketed, which is usually a problem at the university, but we have plenty of parking. It’s a nice, calm, quiet area versus going to the courthouse, which is a very, very busy site. You have to go through security. Usually you have to wait in line. Here, it probably takes you longer to park your car, walk in than it is to vote.”
In previous election cycles, Bud Walton Arena, the basketball arena on campus, was a voting center. Verdery says they were grateful to have a presence in such a prominent space on campus, but the alumni house offers easier access to parking and more ADA accessibility.
She says because Washington County polling sites are set up as voting centers, if you, say, work for the university in Fayetteville but live in a different part of the county, it’s helpful to have this location.
“It makes it convenient because even though we’re open on early vote till 6 o’clock and on the day of election till 7:30, you run out of time or you’re across town and you get caught at the traffic light, or you get caught in an accident or something. So that’s why it makes it so convenient to have it where a large employment center is and go from there with it.
“And we’ve had people come in from the university already. Somebody was here just a few minutes ago from the health center. She walked down. Perfect. A beautiful day to walk down and get to see a nice, welcoming election team.”
Sophia Brasco is a student at the University of Arkansas who also works in this building.
“So it’s super convenient, and it’s just encouraging that, like, the university has a place for us to come and use our right to vote.”
She says she considers the impact of participating in an election.
“It doesn’t cost you anything to vote. It honestly costs you more if you don’t vote. So yeah, it took me like two minutes, and it’s easy.”
Skip Holland lives right down the street from the alumni house. He says one reason he and his wife voted early was because they wanted to avoid the rush on Election Day.
“And we’ve had our minds made up for some time about the issues and about who we wanted to vote for, so there’s no reason to put it off in good weather and a nice place to vote.”
Holland says he was born and raised in Garland County in a household that took voting seriously.
“I always looked forward to voting, and when I became eligible, when I was 21, I was in the Marine Corps, and I had some specific ideas about how I wanted to vote, so I look forward to it.”
Moore: You had an opportunity in your early 20s to vote for the first time. Here we are on campus around a whole lot of folks that age who are given an opportunity to vote close to where they live, close to where they go to school. What do you think the value is in having a polling place like this close to students?
“Well, I think it’s admirable. First of all, it’s a good location. And students need the opportunity to vote. They’re busy. I understand that. Got classes, and they’ve got other activities they have to be involved in. And so having something that’s convenient for them encourages them to vote. And it encourages them to look at the issues and perform good decisions.
“So I support this location. It’s a good location, and the courthouse is accessible, but it’s always crowded. So that’s why we came here.”
Barbara Verdery says one of the elements of her job that brings her the most joy is the multigenerational aspects of a polling place.
“And we are so tickled to see the first-time voters and see the elderly who voted probably in every single election they’ve been able to vote in, you know, the 89-year-olds and 90-year-olds, 99. I think I had one yesterday. It was 98 years old. And she probably has not missed an election in her lifetime. So it’s good to see that broad spectrum of the voters come in. That means that they really care about what’s happening and they have a voice.”
Another joyful experience is celebrating first-time voters.
“If we know it’s a first-time voter, we make a big deal about it. We whoop and holler about them. We sort of embarrass them. But we’re hoping that that will encourage them to continue to vote. On Monday, we had several people who were probably in their 50s or 60s who had never voted before, so they were first-time voters.”
A law passed in 2025 allows previously registered voters that have changed their county of residence to cast a ballot in that new county. Verdery says this has been very helpful with working with college students from Arkansas.
“We can’t transfer you from Texas. You have to be registered 30 days prior to the election to be eligible for this election. But if you registered in Pulaski County or Benton County and you’ve moved to Washington County, we can now, even on the day of election, transfer that registration to Washington County to allow you to vote in Washington County. A very, very good law that our legislators implemented, and we have used it quite a bit already.”
Friday is the final day of early voting at the alumni house. Parking is plentiful and free.
“If you’re in the door by 6, you can vote. We will stay here as long as necessary before we have to shut down our machines.”
And as always, you can find more details about voting and the 2026 election at our website, kuaf.com/vote2026. For Ozarks at Large, I’m Matthew Moore.
Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
