BY: RAY KING
Jefferson County Judge Gerald Robinson said Friday that while the courthouse will open Monday, access will be limited.
Appearing on the Oldies 101.3 morning show with Greg Horne and Will Jenkins, Robinson said voters are encouraged to vote absentee ballots for the Democratic Party primary runoff between Lloyd Franklin and Steven Shaner in Pine Bluff’s Ward 2 race and Brenda Bishop-Gaddy and Jeff Edwards with the winner receiving the party’s nomination for District 13 on the Jefferson County Quorum Court.
Those absentee ballots can be obtained at the county clerk’s office.
Early voting for the March 31 runoffs begins Tuesday and Robinson said county officials will take the necessary precautions to deal with those who want to cast ballots at the courthouse.
He said voters will be spread out and machines will be wiped down after every vote is cast.
“We want to do everything we can to provide people their right to vote and protect our employees at the same time,” Robinson said.
He went on to say that only certain activities such as probable cause hearings, emergency protection orders and the like which are mandated by law will be performed but other things, such as assessing property and issuing marriage licenses will not.
“We will be assessing the situation later,” Robinson said. “The situation changes hour by hour, day by day we will deal with the change.”
Asked how long the county’s financial situation, Robinson said he hoped the situation with the COVD-19 virus will level off and things can return to a semblance of normal in a short time.
‘We’ve not built up our reserves to carry us for a long time,” he said.
Robinson also said that he had received word that by Sunday, the county could be looking at another flooding situation on the Arkansas River.
“We want to encourage the public to take this situation seriously,” Robinson said.
