By Lindsey Meraz, Eagle View Contributor

For a first-time voter, there tends to be a lot of hesitation for the act of voting, often because of unanswered questions. Whether you wait for the last minute tonight (7:30 p.m.) or went the second that the polls opened this morning (7:30 a.m. Nov. 8), there are certain rules and boundaries that allow a clean and fair-minded experience for everyone. 

Benton County Director of Communications Melody Kwok answered a list of common questions about voting.

Where can a person see a sample ballot before voting? 

There may be that wanderer who stumbles in to vote, not knowing what’s going on. This can be avoided. Kwok stated, “The Secretary of State’s office has a website where people can check their sample ballot: https://www.voterview.ar-nova.org/VoterView”

Is there anything different about voting on Election Day that people need to know? 

On Election Day, everyone is struggling to get their vote cast and may not remember the information. 

“The main difference is the vote centers are different from our early voting locations,” Kwok said. “Our County Clerk Offices and the Benton County Election Commission are NOT vote centers on Election Day. A few of our community partner locations are the same. For instance, the NEBCO Community Building and New Life Christian Church are early voting and

Election Day vote centers. We advise people to check the list …  for all Election Day vote centers. We also tell people to expect a line if they are voting on Election Day. Not all locations have lines, but several will.” 

How many registered voters voted in Benton County for the 2020 general election and how many people voted in the 2018 midterm election cycle? 

Accord to Kwok, the figures were:

  • 2020 – 120,444, 70.83% voter turnout
  • 2018 – 77,919, 49.03% voter turnout.

How can people stay informed about election returns on the evening of Nov. 8? 

“People can go to vote.bentoncountyar.gov/elections and on the right side of the page you should see ‘Results’ and a line that says ‘Election Results.’ We will update the ‘Election Results’ tab with the early and absentee ballot numbers first, and then update it as more results come in. The County Clerk’s Office uploads a new document every time we get more results. We advise people to refresh the homepage of vote.bentoncountyar.gov/elections to see the updated document. Refreshing the first document will not work as we have to upload a new document every time.” 

What kind of ID does one need to show? Or what should you bring to the voting poll center? 

Below, there’s a link provided of what you’ll need and what ID you should bring in. 

Several forms of ID are accepted. You can see a list at  https://vote.bentoncountyar.gov/Laws/.“If someone has an Arkansas Driver’s License or State Issued ID Card, we can scan those in to make the check-in process faster,” Kwok said. “Other forms of ID are accepted, but we cannot scan them. It only takes a minute or two longer for check-in. The scanning machines are new this year.”