Plan to move polling locations out of schools facing opposition
A meeting was held at the Pocatello Elks lodge Wednesday to discuss potential new polling sites in Bannock County. The result of a push being made by a local school district to remove voters from area schools.
According to the Bannock County Elections Director, Julie Hancock, the Pocatello/Chubbuck School District 25 has been pushing to move polling locations off campuses, citing concerns of student safety. But Hancock believes this will negatively impact both the voters and the students.
“Well the community pays me to be an advocate for the voters, that’s what I do. It’s a difficult situation to talk about because I don’t want to look like I don’t care about safety for the kids, cause that is very, very, important,” she explained.
Hancock is understanding of the district’s concerns, but worries about how the move will impact voters.
“Well, we’re looking at 17 precincts in 11 schools affecting 15,000 voters,” she explained. “So to find an alternative polling location isn’t going to be easy.”
Especially considering all of the qualifications a new site would need to meet.
“We need to find a site that’s large enough for booths and crews for two precincts, we have to look at parking, we have to look at A.D.A. compliance,” Hancock said.
“And we have to look at a business or building that’s willing to open the doors at 7 a.m., come back in at 10 or 11 o’clock at night to close the building up.”
For many area residents, voting sites have not changed in decades and Hancock fears that a change in location might drive voter turnout even lower.
In November’s elections, most precincts reported that at or about 50 percent of registered voters cast ballots, and the highest percent, at just under 70, was Fort Hall.
“We have a hard enough time getting people to the polls as it is,” Hancock said. “If the kids, at a younger age, see the process, and we remain in the schools, then maybe that would incite kids in the future to take an active involvement in their community by voting. And so we want to make the process easier, not more difficult.”
One idea that’s been tossed around would be to have a state-mandated holiday on election day which would get all of the children out of the schools and eliminate the need to move the polling locations.
Increasing the voting capacity of both the Red Lion Inn and Holt Arena have also been tossed around. But longer lines could lead to voter suppression claims, another concern of Hancock’s.
The Pocatello/Chubbuck School District 25 declined to comment on the matter Wednesday.
