Mississippi County election officials are looking for a new location for early voting and storage of voting equipment, as the Moore Center, the longtime location at Fifth and Chickasawba streets, may soon become unavailable.
Election Commissioner Tom Wiktorek said the commission was told the Moore Center is slated to be condemned in August, although commissioners did not have any details about the situation yet.
A new site will not be needed until approximately two weeks before the Nov. 6 general election, and Wiktorek said the commission is actively searching for a replacement site.
The commissioners also have plans to meet later in the month to vote on a new location to be used for counting votes on election night. The proposed site is the Arkansas Northeastern College campus in Burdette, located between Blytheville and Osceola on Interstate 55, and would be easily accessible from elsewhere in the county.
If this site is chosen, the vote counting process will be consolidated there, ending the county's practice of counting votes at both courthouses every election night.
"This is going to be a much cleaner process," said Wiktorek. "And it will help us by reducing the opportunity for problems on election night. Workers won't have to call back and forth between courthouses, and drive from one to the other to transfer equipment. It should make things much quicker and easier. The student center at their facility has plenty of space, is easily accessible and will actually serve our needs much better than either of the courthouses."
sharris@blythevillecourier.com