FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV) – February 20 marks the first day of the early voting period for the March primaries. During this time, people who are registered to vote in the state of Arkansas can go to their local polling location to vote anytime between now and March 5.
Washington Country Election Commission Executive Director Jennifer Price said that for a primary, voter turnout is normally around 30 to 40 percent, and of that, half will vote early. But despite this, it is still relatively far from the turnout during a national election.
“We’re hoping that we get a higher percentage of votes back early,” said Price, “For general elections we have about 65 percent votes cast, and so we’re pushing each primary election to get more of that percentage early voting.”
Being able to go to the polls early is not only convenient for voters, but also for the city. Spreading out the early voting chances over two weeks makes the polls less crowded on election days. This makes for less stress for workers and helps diffuse the chaos over this two-week period. Keeping lines short means that more people are likely to end up voting.
“The more voters that we can get spread out over the two weeks of early voting, the easier it is for voters who do decide to vote on election day to be able to get in and out so they’re not waiting in long lines, which means that a voter might give up and not actually vote on election day,” said Price.
For Fayetteville residents, there are more than a dozen locations to vote before election day. During this time, polls are open between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. These locations will remain open until 5 p.m. the Monday before the election.
When voting early, the same steps need to be taken as on election day. This means proper identification will need to be provided. If not, poll workers will give instructions on how to fill out a provisional ballot.
For those voters who are not able to make it to the polls for early voting or election day, absentee ballots requests are still open. Submissions for absentee ballots are available until the Friday before the election, except for apply via mail or electronic means. Those applications must be submitted seven days before the election.