LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Early voting is underway here in Arkansas, but many people are still waiting to cast their vote on Election Day.
A thought that surely hasn't crossed many of our minds is having to cast a vote while in the dark. With polling locations seeing record-breaking numbers of more people wanting to cast their vote this election season, it has brought on the concern of a grid overload.
Entergy Arkansas Communications Specialist, Heather Kendrick, explained how that's something that their crews have been preparing and looking out for.
"We've done all of the proactive checks ahead of time, and we have our servicemen and our line workers available and ready to respond if needed," Kendrick described.
She also said that their company is treating Election Day similar to severe weather as they prepare to place crews in various locations on standby in case of an emergency.
"Election Day will be really busy. Think of all sorts of infrastructure concerns, there will be extra traffic, there will be people getting in and out of these polling locations, and so we have made sure that we are in the best proactive position that we can be in case of any power outages or anything like that," she explained.
Entergy said they don't anticipate having any issues but it's always best to be proactive.
"For example, if a car or a truck hits a power pole, we just want to make sure that we have all of our crews on standby throughout our service territory. So that if for some reason the power were to go out at a polling place, we can get it restored as quickly and safely as possible," Kendrick said.
Pulaski County Election Coordinator Amanda Dickens explained how in the past they've experienced electricity outages, so now they are prepared with precautionary measures in place for their poll workers.
"The poll workers do have flashlights in their supplies just in case. We also have backup lamps up here that we could take out to the locations, if need be," Dickens added.
There's also a plan in place for outages that could potentially shut down entire polling locations.
"If it's a really bad situation and they're going to be without power for the rest of the day, we can then take that polling place and combine it with the next closest polling place and get the word out to the voters," Dickens said.
If anything were to happen, poll workers will be site to help. On Election Day, voters will be using paper ballots.