Some Worry Poll Moves Could Hurt Voter Turnout

As town officials consider what to do with two polling places displaced by construction at the Runkle School, some residents worry the wrong move could hurt voter turnout over the next year or longer.

Town Clerk Pat Ward is preparing to recommend a variety of options for relocating Precincts 12 and 13, including consolidating them with Precinct 11 at the Driscoll School. Ward expects to make his recommendations next Tuesday to the Board of Selectmen, who have the final say on polling locations.

"There aren't many alternate sites out there," Ward said. "I suspect that none of them will make everybody happy."

Ward recently contacted several Town Meeting members to get their feedback on potential locations, which could include Driscoll or the high school for precinct 12, and Driscoll or the Heath School for Precinct 13. Ward said he was also working to secure a third location – which he declined to identify – that could host both precincts.

The change could happen as early as next month, though Ward said he would recommend the polling places stay at Runkle through the September primary and November general election. He said selectmen may need to consider some of the complications associated with keep the building open for voting through the fall, including the cost of providing police detail, electricity and heating.

If selectmen follow Ward's recommendation, the polling places wouldn't be relocated until town elections next May. With Runkle due to reopen by fall 2012, the polling places would only be displaced for a year.

In the meantime, some residents are lobbying hard to keep the polls from being moved to more hard-to-reach locations. Andrew Fischer, a Town Meeting member from Precinct 13, has urged officials to move the polling place to the Driscoll, which is just off Beacon Street and can be reached easily on the C Line, rather than a more isolated location like the Heath School.

Fischer argued that many residents of Precinct 13, which stretches from Washington Square through Cleveland Circle to Chestnut Hill, don't drive and would likely stay away from the polls if the their polling place was moved away from public transit.

"There are a lot of people who don't have a way of getting to the Heath," he said. "It will reduce voter turnout – the question is how much."

But Michael Burstein, a Town Meeting member from Precinct 12, worries that have precincts 11, 12 and 13 at Driscoll could prove chaotic.

"It does seem to me that having three precincts voting in one location might be logistically problematic," he said. "But I don't know for sure."

Meanwhile, Joseph Ross, a Precinct 12 Town Meeting member who has back problems and walks with a cane, said he might support moving his precinct to the high school instead, though he worries the limited parking in the area could make it difficult for him to access the building.

"I suspect I could live with the high school," he said. "I don't think it would be any worse than Runkle, which may be the best you can hope for under the circumstances."

Ward said it is nearly impossible to find a location that is available on election day, handicapped accessible, transit oriented and centrally located for everybody in the precinct, especially when you're dealing with a long, narrow precinct that includes both urban and suburban populations like 13.

"I've done a pretty thorough investigation, and I don't think there's anything else out there," he said.

And for now, residents can't even agree on when the switch should occur. While Fischer wants the move delayed until May so a better solution can be found, Burstein agues that making the move between the September and November elections would allow officials to inform more people about the change – especially considering next May's vote will be an off-year town election, which typically sees low voter turnout anyhow.

"If we establish the new polling place in November, you're reaching the greatest number of people and reminding them," he said. "It seems to me that if you hold off on switching the polling place until next May, you'll probably have a hard time informing people – and you might even see lower turnout."