The Independence County Election Commission met at noon on Feb. 26 in the commission office in downtown Batesville to discuss several items, according to a Wednesday press release from the commission.
The commission first welcomed new Republican commissioner Barbara Henson to her first term. Henson has served in several elections before her appointment on the commission. Lea Ann Barber is the other Republican commissioner while Randy A. Seale represents the Democratic Party.
Seale was elected as chair for the next election cycle which runs through the 2022 General Election.
“It is my privilege to remain on the election commission and to serve the voters of Independence County in this capacity, and I am very honored to be asked to serve as the chairman of the commission. We will continue to put forth fair elections as is expected here,” Seale said.
All meetings of the commission must be recorded. Meetings up to this point were recorded on a cellular telephone and archived. The commission agreed to invest in a quality recording device and allocated up to $200 for that task. A device will be ordered for use at the next called meeting, the release noted.
The 2020 census will require county redistricting to be performed due to changes in population. The commission unanimously agreed to hire Data Scout, a company that many counties across Arkansas use for such a matter, to perform the redistricting for the amount of $7,500.
County Clerk Tracey Mitchell discussed the 2021 school elections so that the commission would be aware that those would take place.
In the interest to keep information out to the public in a digital world, the commission has developed a Facebook page. Voters are encouraged to look at the page for information concerning all elections in the county.
Simply head to facebook.com/IndependenceElectionCommission, and you will be directed to the page.
Finally, the commission discussed the need to begin a search for a second election coordinator to help Cathy Drew before the 2022 election year and asked if there were any people that might be interested.
The position was held by longtime coordinator Charlie Morris.
“Charlie has done a wonderful job for many years in Independence County, but employment has taken him out of the area,” said Drew.
The meeting adjourned at 12:30 pm.
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