Council considers
voting site shifts
By DAN MORIARTY
Staff Writer
WESTFIELD – The City Council voted last week to approve the voting places for the March presidential primary election, locations for the 12 city precincts that have been used for a decade or more.
The vote came with little discussion, but with a suggestion that after the presidential election in November, that the issue be discussed as a means of reducing the cost of elections in the city, typically between $30,000 and $40,000.
At-large Councilor said at the Feb. 16 City Council session that he plans to sponsor a motion to look at consolidating voting locations.
Currently each of the six city wards has two precincts, but only Wards 5 and 6 have both precincts in the same buildings, the Munger Hill Elementary School for Ward 5 and the Paper Mill Road School for Ward 6.
“What I’d like to do is make a motion to have one location per ward,” Sullivan said Monday. “That might be problematic for Ward 1, but there is the possibility of condensing wards 2, 3 and 4 to one location.”
Ward 1 currently has Precinct A at the Southampton Road Elementary School on Southampton Road and Precinct 6 at the Westfield High School on Montgomery Road. The problem is that there is no central location accessible to residents of the Southampton Road area and the residents of Prospect Hill.
Sullivan said that easiest consolidation would be in Ward 3 where residents in Precinct A vote at the Franklin Avenue School and residents in Precinct B vote at the Westfield Vocational Technical High School.
Most of the voting locations are located in schools, but the construction of a new elementary school at the intersection of Ashley and Cross streets will greatly change the city’s configuration of schools.
Franklin Avenue School is slated for closure when the new school opens, which would displace that precinct.
Sullivan also noted that the Juniper Park Elementary School, which is now the Ward 4 Precinct A voting location, “is going away, so we’ll have to do something when that building is no longer available. We could have both precincts at Highland (Elementary School) which is now the Precinct B voting location. The new (Ashley Street) school could be the location for both precincts in Ward 2.”
“Consolidation of the precincts into one building has worked fine in Wards 5 and 6 and it will reduce the cost of election, not drastically, but it will save some money as well as making it simpler to manage and simpler for voters,” he said.
“It’s not something we’d do until after the 2013 Presidential elections next fall, but I’d like to get the process started, open the discussion in the council,” Sullivan said.
The polling places have to meet criterion set by state and federal regulations, including compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).
“I know we have to vote on the voting locations before every election and (City Clerk) Karen (Fanion) has to notify the state to get approve at that level,” he said.
City Council President Christopher Keefe said the issue is one that the city will have to address in Wards 3 and 4 with the closure of Franklin Avenue and Juniper Park Elementary Schools.
“One of the precincts in Ward 4 does not have an obvious voting place (After the city moves out of the school), so it would make sense to consolidate the two precincts,” Keefe said. “It does make it easier for voters because you know what building you’re going to and once there you just have to figure out which precinct you’re voting at, so it does make sense to look at consolidation.”
Dan Moriarty can be reached at [email protected]
