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A
product of the Longview News-Journal
Rusk commissioners closer
to consolidating polling places
By
MELISSA TRESNER
Two
commissioners, Jerry Weaver and Bill Hale, were absent from the 1-hour long
workshop.
County
Judge Sandra Hodges said the changes have to be reported to the U.S. Dept. of
Justice by May 1 in order for them to be effective for 2006 elections.
Commissioners
agreed earlier this month to hold the workshop in hopes of dropping the
county's polling locations from 37 to 14 to save money on federally mandated
electronic voting machines. The Help America Vote Act of 2002 requires that
each polling location in the country have at least one Direct Record Electronic
system by January so disabled voters can cast ballots unassisted.
The
machines range in cost from $3,000 to $5,000 each.
Hodges
said she'd like to buy machines that have a paper trail – a written record of
each vote – even though they cost $1,500 more than the standard machines.
"I
think that's very important that we get a machine with a paper trail. It would
be well worth it to save lawsuits," she said.
The
commissioners' goal also was to eliminate voting boxes at schools, churches,
fire departments and other buildings not owned by the county.
Kathie
Wittner, the county's voting registrar, said
scheduling conflicts have come up as well as security concerns at the schools
that have "closed" campuses. At the fire departments, there have been
times when voters have blocked in fire trucks. When the fire departments got a
call, firefighters were delayed.
At
the
Voting
locations now are set up at five public schools, seven churches, eight
community buildings and two volunteer fire departments.
Commissioners
Kimble Harris in Precinct 4, and Freddy Swann in Precinct 3, were able to
whittle their locations from 24 to 11 by looking at the voting map and the
number of people who voted in the last election and trying to find some central
locations, so people wouldn't have to travel far to get to the new box.
They
also discussed lowering Precinct 2's locations from seven to five. Precinct 1,
represented by Hale, now has seven voting locations.
Commissioners
agreed that the five boxes within the city of
Some
of the proposed locations need parking and handicap accessibility.
Wittner said moving the boxes will create the
need for some other changes.
"We're
going to have to renumber these boxes," she said.
The
boxes in the city will still correspond with
She
said she would send a letter to voters later this year with their new cards
explaining the changes.
The
commission will set another meeting to firm up the changes, making sure that
all the proposed location sites are available.
©
2005 Cox
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