County Receives Grant to Purchase Additional Election Equipment

BY LEANN DILBECK –

Polk County was recently awarded $11,950 from the County Voting System Grant Fund for the purchase of electronic poll books.  This special fund was requested by Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin and approved by the 88^th Arkansas General Assembly.

This is the county’s second opportunity to receive the funds. Polk County used its grant money last year to purchase electronic poll books for a portion of the polling places, but has not had an election in which to use them yet.  This year’s grant money, according to County Clerk Terri Harrison, will be used to purchase twelve additional poll books for the remainder of the polling places.

Harrison explained that by using electronic poll books, saff are able to see who has voted and it will be in “real time.” This will speed up the process of checking in the voter and will automatically update the voting record to show they voted. Once they have voted, it will show they have already voted, rather than having to wait for the signatures to be scanned after being received back at the County Clerk’s office.

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Jeri Pearson

Jeri is the News Director for Pulse Multi-Media and Editor of The Polk County Pulse. She has 10 years of experience in community focused journalism and has won multiple press association awards.

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