FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Washington County Election Commission Executive Director Jennifer Price announced on Nov. 1 that a polling location in Fayetteville will close due to construction.
Trinity United Methodist Church, located at 1021 W. Sycamore, will no longer be a polling location due to road construction in the area. This location was originally going to be a polling site on Election Day, Nov. 5, but that is no longer the case. With the only access road closed to through traffic and the church parking lot now gravel, officials were forced to cancel polling here.
"A group was coming into their facility and had really a difficult time parking and getting in, and so they gave us a phone call to let us know there might be an issue for us on election day," Price said.
"When we visited the site, we could tell, just from the amount of construction going on and future plans for next week, that it would not be able to be open on Election Day. And so, of course, we quickly looked into finding alternative locations. And with such short notice, we needed to find a location that would be willing to say yes very quickly," the county Director of Elections said.
According to a City of Fayetteville media release, the construction part of the Midtown Corridor Project was estimated to be completed 2 months after it's June 24th date. Instead, heavy machinery, a gravel parking lot, and no thru traffic on the only access road surrounded the church.
Voters were invited to a public meeting at 9 a.m. at the Washington County Road Department, where a decision was made to add another location. Price explained they needed a location that was willing to say yes quickly and had space and accessibility for voters.
Officials proposed the county's extension office, simply redirecting to other existing voting centers, or the location they'd eventually pick, the county's veterans services. It places the voting center over a mile away on North Street for voters on Election Day.
"A lot of the voters are university students or individuals who live in the apartment complexes in those neighborhoods that have been well established for many years in that area. But of course, because we do vote centers, voters can go to any location," Price said.
The Washington County Veteran Services building is located at 62 W North Street. Price advises Election Day voters to look for the military flags or voting signs that will be posted outside the veterans services building.
Additional voting sites in Fayetteville are listed below:
- Central United Methodist - 6 W. Dickson
- Cornerstone Church of Christ (Baldwin) - 4377 Huntsville Rd
- Covenant Church 4511 W. Wedington Dr
- Genesis Church 205 Martin Luther King Blvd
- Goshen Fire Station #2 5679 E Mission Blvd
- Mt. Comfort Church of Christ 3249 W. Mt. Comfort Rd
- Ridgeview Baptist Church 1850 E Huntsville Rd
- Sang Avenue Baptist Church 1425 N. Sang Ave
- Sequoyah Methodist Church 1910 Old Wire Rd
- Trinity Fellowship 1100 Rolling Hills Dr
- Wedington Woods Fire Station 13496 Hwy 16
- Wheeler Fire Station 6946 W. Wheeler Rd
- Washington County Veteran Services 62 W North St
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