Polling snafu with School Board ballots

Polling snafu with School Board ballots

Officials move quickly to diffuse confusion on first day of early voting

news@theeveningtimes.com

The first day of Early Voting for the upcoming School Board Elections hit a snag right off the bat.

As polls opened Tuesday morning, voters found their names registered to General Election polling places rather than School Board zones, which was particularly problemsome for those voting in the recently re-drawn school zones in West Memphis.

The West Memphis School Board set new voting boundaries following the consolidation with the Hughes School District to balance each zone with an equal number of residents.

Following the redistricting, school officials submitted a new map key to the County Clerk’s office and designated polling places for each zone.

But as the courthouse poll opened for early voting Tuesday morning, voters found themselves aligned with voting precincts associated for general elections, traditional polling places such the Eugene Woods Civic Center and Lehr Arena at the Academies of West Memphis. Neither of those polling place will be used next week.

While no voters were turned away, there was a scramble to address and correct the issue for the first set of voters at the courthouse. Poll workers were set with the latest registration information on their iPads, but relied on a hard copy of the School District Zone Map to double- check addresses and ensure voters were assigned the correct ballot.

According to County Clerk Paula Brown, by mid-morning, all of the proper adjustments had been made.

“The right zone was available all along, but some voters were associated with wrong polling places for this school board election. I don’t know why it didn’t pick up, but we got it straightened out,” said Brown. “On the slips it showed their regular polling location but the correct school zone.”

With the right data on the voting machines, Brown said, the remainder of the day’s voting went smoothly. Early voting continues through next Monday afternoon at 4:30 p.m.

The county-wide School Board elections will be Tuesday, Sept. 20. Polls will be open 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

By John Rech