Polling site merge mulled

A potential move by the Sampson County Board of Elections to consolidate polling places in Clinton was tabled after some concerns and confusion, with elections officials utilizing a public hearing this week as a forum to explain what was actually being proposed to merge — voting sites, not precincts — and ultimately tabling the matter until February so the clarification could be more widely communicated.

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday night’s election board meeting, a notice of the public hearing from the Sampson County Board of Elections referred to a proposal of “consolidating all Clinton precincts.” Elections officials said that may have been misleading, with precincts set to remain intact, but a main polling place proposed to be utilized for all Clinton precincts, an effort to cut down confusion as well as reduce the staffing necessary to operate the sites.

This is not out of the ordinary, as elections officials took similar action during the 2020 election in order to accommodate expected larger crowds for a highly-contested Presidential election while also provide more social distancing amid the COVID pandemic, something that elections board member Dwight Williams Jr. noted during Tuesday’s meeting.

At that time, Williams noted, the old Badcock Furniture building off Southeast Boulevard in Clinton was used as one of five established early voting sites in Sampson County, which served the county well.

This time around, the Sampson County Agri-Expo Center is being considered as a potential hub for voters from all Clinton precincts to cast their votes.

When Tuesday’s meeting began, Sampson County Board of Elections Chairwoman Sherri White-Williamson immediately it up for public comment as part of the hearing. There was initially some confusion on the proposal on the table prior to Williams and others stepping in to clear things up a bit.

Larry Sutton, the first to speak, said he had general thoughts concerning a potential consolidation, but had attended hoping to hear the board speak to the issue and give reasons surrounding a possible action.

“I believe that voting should be free, fair and easy,” said Sutton. “The ‘easy’ part I want to emphasis a great deal. There shouldn’t be a burden on the voters to cast their vote. I hope that by merging the precincts, it would not present a burden on any voter to cast his or her vote. And, also, I hope that this will not create confusion among the electorate … not knowing where I go to vote. That, to me, is a form of suppression of the vote. I also hope this will not create longer lines when exercising the right to vote.”

Alluding to what the board ultimately meant to be the actual proposal on the table, Sutton proposed the possibility of one “voting area” where multiple precincts would be permitted to vote at one facility — “however let’s make sure that one facility is accessible, won’t produce long wait times and won’t cause confusion on where one is to vote,” Sutton pointed out.

After Sutton’s comments, Williams stepped in to offer a summation of what was actually being considered, which was welcomed among Sutton and others who were signed up to speak.

“Let’s be very specific about what we’re talking about doing — we’re not consolidating precincts,” said Williams. “We do not have that authority to merge (precincts). That’s completely on census data and statutes. What we’re talking about doing is consolidating voting places, which is one of the things I believe Mr. Sutton, you said that you favored.”

Williams mentioned the “good response” received from the use of Badcock building back in 2020.

“We used that facility for 17 days (of early voting),” said Williams. “It was not used for election day, which became confusing to a lot of citizens in the county. But during those 17 days of one-stop voting in the county, somewhere around 52% of all the votes cast in Sampson County — city, county, all votes cast — were cast at the Badcock center during those 17 days.

“Obviously, it was a good thing, and welcomed by the citizens of the county,” he continued. “So, we’re not talking about precincts. We are talking about consolidating voting places, much in the fashion that was done at the Badcock center. But now, we are very well assured that we can use one of the city’s voting places, the civic center, and that it would be available not only for (the entirety of early voting) but also on election day. For seven precincts, they would have the exact same voting place for the one-stop voting and also for election day, which should clear up a lot of confusion.”

Currently the listed seven precinct polling sites in Clinton are:

• Clinton Central — Clinton City Hall Auditorium

• Clinton East — Sampson Agri-Expo Center

• Clinton Northeast — Sampson County Adult Day Care Center

• Clinton Southwest — Clinton Fire Station

• Clinton West — Sampson Community College

• Kitty Fork — N.C. National Guard Armory

• Rowan — Rowan Community Building

Elections director Niya Rayner said the consolidation to the Agri-Expo Center would alleviate some of the questions from voters looking for their precincts. Often, voters will inundate the Board of Elections with questions on where specific sites are located.

“What the public does not see is when we get a lot of people going to our office to ask where (Clinton polling sites are located),” said Rayner. “But everybody seems to know the focal point of the Expo Center. That way we have one place instead of all of these places.”

Geographically, Williams said all of the seven existing polling sites in Clinton are located within about a 2-mile diameter. Consolidating those into a centrally-located voting area would be ideal, he noted.

“It has wonderful parking, lots of access in-site, so if lines do develop, which they do, the lines will be indoors and it has some degree of comfort and ample restroom facilities,” said Williams. “The Badcock building just worked so well, it seemed to be the logical conclusion to press toward using the civic center.

“And if you can put seven voting places into one voting place, we reduce the number of people required to make that function from about 48 down to about 16 or 18 — a considerably lot less folks,” said Williams. “We will have one location; everybody in those seven precincts will come cast their ballots and those voting machines are easily-programmed to keep track of all the necessary information to account for the ballots by precinct. Functionally, it’s no different than it was with the Badcock building two years ago.”

Staffing has definitely been an issue over the last two election cycles, White-Williamson noted, saying those personnel who “ready and willing to work” at polling sites.

“That has become a big struggle,” said elections board member Coley Michael Warren.

“That is a huge issue for the board — people dropping out at the last minute, dropping out the day of, dropping out two days into the cycle,” said White-Williamson. “It’s been very difficult to keep a good group of folks who are working at these precincts. This action would certainly solve a lot of issues that the board has seen.”

Warren said having one area would severely reduce confusion. Voters are already in the system based on their address, so poll workers know which ballot they are to receive. Knowing where to cast it should be the least of a voter’s worries, he said.

Elections board member Danny Jackson reiterated that it was polling places, not precincts. Clinton precinct chairs would remain as such. White-Williamson noted that the Sampson Board of Elections would also not be the final determining body on the polling site combination. That action would be a local recommendation to the N.C. State Board of Elections, which would ensure the measure is in line with state law.

Williams said he felt that the civic center would serve to assuage Sutton’s concerns and fulfill the standards Sutton laid out for easy voting.

Jackson pointed to the issues election officials have dealt with specifically at the Kitty Fork precinct — Sutton noted it was his home precinct — and how much that voting site has moved around in recent years, from the armory, to a mobile unit, to Star Telephone to Farm Bureau Insurance. “It wasn’t the most ideal,” said Jackson. “This (proposal) will hopefully alleviate that.”

Williams said the largest impact of a consolidation would likely be to the Kitty Fork and Rowan precincts. He inquired as to the impact to Sutton personally.

He said having the Expo Center as the polling site “should become the norm.”

“Not Star, Not Farm Bureau and not here and there each year, because that’s very confusing,” said Sutton. “I’m pretty sure we’ve lost some voters behind that changing at Kitty Fork. It became confusing to me, and I know other folks were confused as well.”

“I was on the board, and it was confusing to me,” Jackson stated.

Williams said elections officials have been assured that the Expo Center, a county-owned building, should be available to serve as a polling site “for the foreseeable future.”

In response to another question, Rayner said savings would be realized in reduced staffing — estimated at about $2,000 — as well as the lack of community donation funds the board regularly earmarks to reserve and use existing community sites. However, Rayner said some of that savings may need to be used to pay poll workers more as they will be handling more volume.

Ed Gillim, another speaker during the public hearing, thanked election officials for clearing up confusion.

“The only thing I’m concerned about right now is communication and advertisement,” said Gillim. “Let’s make sure these people in these precincts have this knowledge. I’m thinking about the person who has been voting in one place for years and years and years and now all of a sudden they have to go to the civic center — which is a convenience — but let’s make sure they know and we get that information out there.”

Jackson noted mailers that will be sent out if the move is approved. He did note that any approval would not affect the upcoming municipal election in November 2023, filing for which would take place in July.

Warren said he was ready to vote on the polling site consolidation, but cited initial confusion on the matter as a reason to hold off.

“Would it behoove us — we’ve got some time on this — to let the news get out and see what happens in the next 30 days as response back to us? Hopefully, it’s positive, as we’ve cleared up some things.”

Warren made a motion to table the issue until the board’s next scheduled regular meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 21, at 10 a.m.