New Leadership, New Relationship Could Equal Easier Voting

For some Pulaski County voters, casting their ballot in the November election meant waiting in a long line to get to the front and find out it`s the wrong line. Those are just a couple of problems the Pulaski County Election Commission talked about fixing at a meeting Thursday night. Circuit Clerk Pat O`Brien made it clear at that meeting, that any feuding between his office and the election commission is over -- creating a trinity between those two and the Secretary of State`s office, to make it easier to solve problems. After helping thousands of others cast their votes in November, poll workers told commissioners where the problems were. "I object to the Monday early voting," Charlie Caulkins told them. "They didn`t get the lists of early votes made out until after midnight. We got the list Tuesday afternoon." Voters experienced long lines, confusing polling sites, and outdated voter rolls. "Over 60,000 people in Pulaski County are listed as an inactive voter. I believe most of those people are dead or have moved out of the county," explained Circuit Clerk Pat O`Brien. In November, more than 156,000 people voted, 56,000 early. "We want to make sure that two years from now all those people go this time, and lines are not as long and we also get the new voters, and get rid of duplicates," said O`Brien. It may take more resources to get them fixed, but all are worth it, if it means voters can cast their ballots with ease. O`Brien also says he hopes to establish an interactive website and a revised phone system where voters check their registration and polling sites. He hopes to completely overhaul the voter database by the end of 2005. This week, Secretary of State Charlie Daniels announced plans to purchase software to create a centralized, statewide voter registrstation database. The office says the $5 million system should be up and working by 2006.