April 8, 2014

The county's newly acquired e-tablets for polling stations will be in use next month during May's primary election, according to members of the Mississippi County Election Commission.

The county's newly acquired e-tablets for polling stations will be in use next month during May's primary election, according to members of the Mississippi County Election Commission.

The tablets will take the place of large polling books, and will contain information on all registered voters in the county, for speeding up the check-in process at the polls.

The county owns 13 of the e-tablets, but a $15,000 grant from the secretary of state's office has recently been secured, and election coordinator Johnny Buchanan said that more tablets will be purchased in time for the election, so they should be available at each polling site in the county.

Also in preparation for the primary, poll worker training dates have been set. Training will take place on April 17 and 22 at the Blytheville courthouse, and on April 24 and 29 at the Osceola courthouse. All sessions will begin at 7 p.m. Workers will also be trained on e-tablet use.

The commission also discussed the possibility of high school students becoming poll workers, and encouraged it -- any registered voter can potentially qualify to be a poll worker. Anyone wishing to work the polls this election season should contact Buchanan at the Blytheville courthouse.

New legislation being handed down regarding elections will now require the commission to report early and absentee voting results to the Secretary of State's office no later than 30 minutes after the close of early voting, which the commission established would be done as soon as possible on the Monday evening before election day in May.

Early voting for the May primary will begin on May 5 and run through May 19. Early polling sites are the courthouse in Osceola, Central School in Blytheville, the Depot in Manila, and the ANC college campus in Leachville. Early voting in Leachville will be held the week of May 5, and Manila's the week of May 12. Blytheville and Osceola will both have early voting for the whole period.

sharris@blythevillecourier.com

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