Crittenden County getting the vote out
Thousands show up for first day of Early Voting at local polling sites
By JOHN RECH
news@theeveningtimes.com
Early voting in Crittenden County sprinted off the mark with a blistering pace during the first day to vote on Monday. In an election headlined with the presidential race between Republican incumbent President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger former Vice President Joe Biden, turnout almost certainly would outpace the mid-term election. County election officials said not only the interest in the next president drove people to the polls but throughput at the polls shortened the lines, providing an incentive to voters to stay and cast their ballots.
Almost seven percent of registered voters turned out at the two early voting sites on just the first day of early voting. For the first time, vote centers were opened to any county voter to cast a ballot at either the Marion Performing Arts Center or the Eugene Woods Civic Center in West Memphis. Masks were required to enter the sites and identification was again required to vote.
Election commissioners decided to move early voting away from the cramped space at the courthouse in Marion to improve social distancing and install COVID-10 protocols at its vote centers. The move to the new locations in West Memphis and Marion allowed for more voting machines to serve voters.
“It’s difficult to read much into the first day,” said Election Commissioner Frank Barton. “Four years ago, we voted in one location with five machines and two check stations. Today, we voted in two locations offered 20 machines and eight
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Bring your mask and your identification to vote. Election workers handled this voter’s ID with surgical gloves masks and visors behind a transparent screen at early voting Monday in West Memphis. COVID concerns drove election commissioners to double up the early voting centers and provide more room to social distance at the polls. Any registered voter in the county may vote at the Eugene Woods Civic Center in West Memphis or The Marion Performing Arts Center (MPAC) between the high school and junior high. Traditional general election polling places open for election day Tuesday, November 3.
Photos by John Rech
This couple entered the vote center together during the first day of early voting held for the first time at the West Memphis Civic Center. Masks were required and social distances marked on the floor and the sidewalk along with this reminder at the door.
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check stations. Clearly the added capacity made a difference. It’s very gratifying to watch a plan, that developed over months, work as designed.”
Masked voters lined up to show identi_cation and check in at stations featuring a transparent divider, gloved and masked poll workers. Greeters worked the door and kept counts of people in the room to comply with COVID-19 protocol. Floors and sidewalks were clearly marked at six foot intervals. Electronic voting booths were spaced out in the bigger facilities as well.
Voters who traditionally wait for election day and concerned with social distancing may want to consider the more spacious early vote centers to cast their ballots. Early voting continues at both locations now through Monday Nov. 2, at 5 p.m. Early voting hours are 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays (no Sunday voting). Polls on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Voters streamed in to vote during the first day of early voting. Nearly seven percent of registered voters in the county turned out Monday October 19. Exactly 200 voters turned out during the first hour at the two vote centers in the county.
Photo by John Rech
