After writing about the prospect of consolidating/centralizing polling places as a way to improve voting reliability, it turns out that’s actually being considered. Denver, Adams, and Broomfield counties are all looking at putting such systems in place this year, reducing dozens of precinct polling places into more consolidated “voting centers.”
Why the contemplated shift? Election officials say it is costly to maintain a traditional system of precinct polling places and increasingly difficult to find election judges, too. So it’s only natural that officials take a leaf from corporate America’s playbook and consider merging or eliminating polling outlets in favor of a few mega-centers open to all voters no matter where they reside in the county.
Moreover, as Denver election commissioner Sandy Adams argues, the increasing scrutiny given voting procedures and the emergence of “provisional ballots” are two more reasons to consolidate voting. Fewer centers mean fewer but better-trained workers and thus fewer mistakes. Meanwhile, voters who wandered into a polling place outside their neighborhood would no longer be required to cast a provisional ballot.
The article notes some potential problems, though. The biggest is that if it’s less convenient to vote (i.e., if it means traveling out of one’s way, looking around for parking, waiting in longer lines), fewer people may do so. Alternately, people may use “early voting” or absentee voting alternatives.
Larimer Co. evidently did the voting center thing during the November election, though, with some success:
The clerk and recorder of Larimer County, which switched from 143 precincts to 31 voting centers for November’s election, has been telling anyone who cares to listen that the centers are just about the best thing to happen to America since the introduction of the mini-iPod. And Scott Doyle is correct that Larimer voters turned out in impressive numbers for the recent election, just as they did elsewhere on the Front Range, in what appears to have been a well-run change in voting procedures.
Larimer set it up so that it wasn’t merely a matter of multiple precincts being set up in fewer locations, but allows folks from any precinct to vote in any voting center. That removed some of the inconvenience factor as far as travel goes. Whether something similar would work elsewhere, or in a non-“hot” election is another matter, but I think, in the long run, it makes the most sense.
As long as the parking is okay.
Well…as long as parking is ok, and this isn’t just some new way to disinfrachise inner city folk by moving the voting centers to “safe” areas like what happened in Ohio and Florida.
I live in Larimer County. This is purely anecdotal and perhaps a special case, but the voting center at CSU worked really well for me since I teach at CSU two days per week. The voting centers were open for early voting for a week or so before the election, so I went in and voted on a day that was convenient for me. The line was short due to the fact that I was voting early, and parking was not a problem since I was on campus anyway. If I had to vote in my local precinct, I would have had much more trouble, since I would have needed to leave early (or get out of the house much earlier) on election day to go find the place, and I would have waited much longer in line.
I heard from students that the line at the CSU voting center was bigger on election day but, again, parking wasn’t an issue for them since they were going to be on campus anyway. Local news reports didn’t say anything about parking, but the voting center locations I am aware of had large parking areas (one was the county fairgrounds, which has huge parking lots). Like anything else, whether or not voting centers are a good idea depends on the implementation. In my personal experience, Larimer County did a good job; they made it very easy and convenient for me to vote this year, much more convenient than when I voted in Michigan last year.
I would certainly object to anything that was intended to disenfranchise folks. If there are transportation issues, at a minimum, I’d recommend additional/special busses — as well as consideration of were the voting centers are being put in the first place.