Boone County election officials are completing preparations for Tuesday’s general election by training poll workers, testing voting equipment and reviewing voter-registration records, County Clerk Crystal Graddy said.
Poll workers must have equipment ready when polling places open, including ballot-marking devices and scanners used to record voters’ selections. Graddy said election staff also are checking that electronic systems have been programmed for the election.
“Basically, what's most important is that we have our poll workers trained, we have our equipment set up and ready to go as soon as the polls open, and that all electronics are programmed and ready to go.” — Boone County Clerk Crystal Graddy
Paper ballot remains available for review
In Boone County, voters use a ballot-marking device to make their choices on a paper ballot. After the selections are made, the device prints the ballot so voters can inspect it before placing it into an optical scanner for counting.
The process leaves a physical record of each ballot. Graddy said those paper ballots can be used if election officials need to conduct a recount or a hand count of votes.
- Voters insert a blank paper ballot into a ballot-marking device.
- The device prints the voter’s selections on the ballot.
- Voters review the printed ballot before putting it into an optical scanner.
“It prints out a piece of paper that they can then look at. So they can look at that piece of paper, they can verify that is the votes that they want, and then they can feed it into a machine that then reads the ballot.” — Boone County Clerk Crystal Graddy
Graddy said the paper ballots provide an auditable record that election workers can retrieve if a hand count or official recount becomes necessary. The scanner records the vote during the regular counting process, while the paper ballot remains available for review.
Registration records checked statewide
Boone County’s poll workers also use the state’s centralized voter-registration database when checking voter information. Graddy said the database helps local election officials update records when residents move to another county or leave Arkansas.
Keeping the registration records current is part of the county’s preparation for Election Day. When a voter’s name does not immediately appear in local poll books, poll workers check the statewide database as part of the registration process.
“So we do rely on that daily, obviously, to keep that up to date, make sure that it is cleaned up, that if people have moved out of state or out of county, that we can keep the rolls clean.” — Boone County Clerk Crystal Graddy
Arkansas polls are scheduled to open at 7:30 a.m. CT Tuesday and close at 7:30 p.m. CT. Boone County’s preparations are aimed at having trained workers, programmed equipment and the paper-ballot process ready when voting begins.
