Polling place will move

By Hannah Wever
Review Staff Writer

Published: June 5, 2008

District 3 voters will cast their ballots in a different location at this fall’s election. Voters who live in the Town of Orange and along Route 20 up to Route 522, are simply too numerous for the old polling place-the Orange Volunteer Firehouse. So the local electoral board is setting the wheels in motion to move the District 3 polling place up the hill to Prospect Heights Middle School, according to Orange County Electoral Board Vice Chairman Marty Caldwell.
“The reason for the move is that the firehouse is too small for the number of voters,” she said. “After last November’s general election, and the presidential primary in Orange, the election officers requested of us that we find a larger place.”
There were a number of new locations electoral board officials considered before finally settling on the middle school. Orange County High School, the Town of Orange Public Works Building, and the Taylor Education Administrative Complex were all candidates, but Prospect Heights Middle School emerged as the best choice, Caldwell said. Ample parking, as well as ample room to set up voting machines and officials were all considerations.
The firehouse proved to be cramped quarters during the presidential primaries this past spring, and election officials are predicting even more voters to turn out in this November’s presidential election. In the 2004 presidential election, Caldwell said District 3 saw a voter turnout of 69 percent, or 2,130 voters.
“We know that the numbers have gone up. As of April, the total number was 3,185,” she said. “We are anticipating an extremely large turnout this November.”
The electoral board has already gotten approval to use the middle school from Orange County Public Schools officials, but there are still a few more hurdles to clear before the move is official. It’s not quite as simple as packing a few boxes, however.
“We met with Dr. Crawford, and the school board approved it, and now we’re going to ask the board of supervisors to approve it,” Caldwell said. The matter will likely appear on the Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting agenda next week, she expects. “We have to have the hearing with the board of supervisors, then the public comment and then the board votes,” she said.
If supervisors approve the electoral board’s request to move the District 3 polling place, the county attorney will file with the United States Department of Justice, and then carry out legal legwork to determine there are no adverse implications (like potential voter disenfranchisement) associated with moving the voting venue.
“Once we get approval, (Orange County Registrar) Dinah Waugh has to notify all the voters,” Caldwell said. Federal law requires voters be notified of the move by no later than 15 days prior to the election. Caldwell said the electoral board anticipates that each voter will get their new voter registration card, along with an official notification that they’ll now be voting at Prospect Heights in September.
Waugh said the registrar’s office is expecting to be extremely busy prior to the presidential election. Voter registration and re-registration is already in full swing.
“We’ve never gotten so many at this time of year,” she said. “I know we’ll be really busy starting at the latter part of August.”