Arkansas’ voting equipment is out of date and Secretary of State Mark Martin said Tuesday his office is trying to improve it. Speaking at the Pine Bluff Rotary Club meeting at the Pine Bluff Country Club, Martin, who is in his second term, said that currently there are five counties in the state that have updated voting machines, paid for by reductions in his office’s budget. “We’ve cut $2 to $3 million from my budget and been able to buy machines without any appropriations from the Legislature,” he said.
Martin, whose office handles elections, among other things, said future plans include statewide voting centers, where people can go in and vote, regardless of where they live or are registered.
… Asked how long it would take before every county in the state has new equipment, Martin said that was a hard question to answer because the state has other needs, and he was deferring the authority to pay for the new equipment to the people who have that authority, the governor and the legislature.
Full Article: Secretary of state says new voting equipment in the works | Pine Bluff Commercial.