MARSHALL — A former Searcy County resident posted a tongue-and-cheek comment on Facebook. They wondered who their grandparents had voted for on Tuesday.
This was a joke, but Searcy County is leading a trend in Arkansas and the nation — hand counting votes.
Wednesday morning after the national election, 40 — volunteers and some paid individuals —gathered at the Marshall Civic Center to count the paper ballots that were cast in the county.
The election commission of the county operated above reproach and with the help of handcountroadshow.org, the county counted their votes.
handcountroadshow.org provided the necessary steps to making the process a success with the use of electronic equipment.
Each table had a camera similar to a “go-pro” positioned on each table. The ballots were placed in a designated area on the table that was bordered by tape. The camera recorded all activity with the ballots. Anyone could watch the action on a television screen placed outside of the table area.
The 40 individuals were divided into tables of four people. One person was the enunciator. Another individual watched the paper ballot to verify that the enunciator read the ballots correctly.
Sitting on the other side of the table were the remaining two members of the quartet. These individuals tallied the count as it was read.
As the counters marked the votes when they reached the fifth vote and made the diagonal line across the other four marks, they verbally had to said “tally.”
This was a quick trouble shooing move that would show there was a discrepancy in the count if one of the counters had not reached the fifth vote. It would narrow the search for the discrepancy to be found within the last nine ballots.
There was one more added level to the security of the ballots. Before each batch of ballots was read, they were scanned. The scans could be used to verify that no one had marked the ballots as they were being handled in the counting process.
Searcy County was the only county in Arkansas that used paper ballots. However, on Tuesday night, voters in Independence County (Batesville is the county seat) decided to start using paper ballots.
