By Steve Good

Finding themselves about $37,000 in the red, the Hot Spring County Election Commission voted to go before the HSC Quorum Court on Tuesday night and ask that body to allow them to seek $5,000 from the Hot Spring County Medical Center as an advance against costs the hospital will incur for a special election HSCMC wants to call on Sept. 9.

The $5,000 would allow the HSCEC to purchase additional memory modules and flash cards for its electronic voting machines. 

Commissioners said they felt they needed to increase the number of modules and cards for the voting machines so that they can assure voters that machines will be available in back-to-back elections.

Hugh Day Welch, HSCEC chairman, said Tuesday during a called meeting of the commission, that if the special election is called on Sept. 9 as the hospital wants, the annual school elections fall one week later on Sept. 16.

Welch noted that neither election could be moved.

An Arkansas Constitutional provision sets special elections for the second Tuesday of any month. The annual school election is set for the third Tuesday in September each year.

The hospital could not call the election for August because of provisions in election law that require there be at least 52 days between an election proposal and the time set for the election.

Representatives of the financially strapped hospital indicated at a recent quorum court committee meeting that calling the election later than September might not help the facility remain open.

Mary Ann Walters, HSC Clerk, said the request would fund the purchase of 27 additional flash cards, 46 additional memory modules and two modules for the M100 machines that scan and tally paper ballots.

According to Walters, the total for the purchase would be $5,655 plus tax.

Walters told the commisioners that the commission had a credit with the company that sells and programs the machine hardware that would decrease the cost of the acquisition by as much as $2,000.

Walters said the county would be receiving about $60,000 from the state as reimbursement for the cost of the three elections held so far this year.

She told commissioners that it took about six weeks to two months for the county to be reimbursed for its election expenses after the commission submitted the expenses to the state.

“When we get these three checks in, we will be back at full budget,” Walters said.

Welch reminded commissioners that HSCMC would pay the cost of the special election. He also said that each school district in the county is responsible for paying the costs associated with its school election.

The motion to ask the quorum court to allow the advance passed unanimously.