I got the explanation today on what's happening with next Tuesday's primary elections.
The Independence Party and the Conservative Party both have countywide votes on the nomination for Jefferson County Judge.
One of my pet peaves is the musical chairs with polling places and the latest is that only two locations, instead of the normal nine will be open for the primary.....
All voters in Legislative Districts 12 & 13 vote at City Hall, and the rest of the city votes at Midtown Towers on Mechanic Street.
Two issues......Why not explain this well ahead of time, especially to the candidates who are doing outreach to the voters in these parties ?.
Other issue is why do all the Northsiders have to travel cross town to Mechanic Street to vote in a location they have never voted before. What about the North Side Improvement League ?
Add to this confusion, the new optical scan voting machines and you quickly realize Americans had best not get on their high horse about elections in other countries.
City voters should have four central sites for voting...the High School, The League, Midtown and the Fairgrounds. Set them in stone and leave them.....
I have a friend who has voted in four different sites in the past five years, even though he lives in the same house.
This morning I again extended an invitiation to meet with the BOE so that the political leadership in the area can help devise a system where voting is easy to find and easy to do. The Council is already on record in favor of simplification .
Let's get it done so voters know where to go and are comfortable doing so.
2 comments:
Are there contested Dem and Rep primaries? If not, then the primary is held only for two parties whose registration is negligible. The Board of Elections has no obligation to provide numerous polling places for such a small number of voters. Anyone who wanted to show "independence" should be willing to make a slighter longer trek to the polls.
I think two polling places is plenty for the major parties as well....just standardize the locations and have a plan to publicize
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