Elections Board schedules public hearings on proposed precinct changes

The Athens-Clarke County Board of Elections schedules public hearings for later this month, one on June 20 and the other on June 27, to focus on proposed changes to polling locations in Athens. A half-dozen voting precincts could be relocated, with one new one to be added.

From the Athens-Clarke Co government website…

The Athens-Clarke County Board of Elections is considering changes to six Election Day polling site voting locations and precinct lines for some voters, as well as adding one new polling site voting location. Residents’ voting districts will not change as part of this process, only the location at which some would vote in-person on Election Day.

Any voter affected by either the polling location or precinct line changes will receive a new precinct card at least 90 days prior to the Presidential Preference Primary on March 12, 2024, per state law.

With the need to relocate the current polling locations at the Georgia Square Mall and Transit Multimodal Transportation Center due to redevelopment, voting space challenges, and parking issues, the board collaborated with the ACCGov Geospatial Information Office to study the entire territory of Athens-Clarke County for other potential polling location changes and precinct line changes. Part of the process involved considering the number of registered voters by Census blocks to determine geographically central areas for potential polling locations and possible shifts to precinct lines to better balance the number of voters per precinct.

The Board of Elections conducted four work sessions to determine recommended sites that included necessary voting space and parking at future locations, as well as more central polling site voting locations and more evenly dispersed voter numbers.

The Board of Elections will conduct two public hearings to hear from voters regarding the proposed changes. Each forum will consist of a presentation followed by a question and answer period. The public forums will take place:

• Tuesday, June 20, 2023 from 6:00-7:30 PM at the Athens-Ben Epps Airport Community Room in the commercial airport terminal (1010 Ben Epps Drive)
• Tuesday, June 27, 2023 from 6:00-7:30 PM at the ACC Extension Office Community Room (275 Cleveland Road)

Proposed polling location changes include:

• Precinct 1A - Moving from the Winterville Train Depot (125 North Church Street) to the Winterville Community Center (371 North Church Street)
• Precinct 4A - Moving from the ACCGov Multimodal Transportation Center (775 East Broad Street) to the Athens-Ben Epps Airport Community Room (1010 Ben Epps Drive)
• Precinct 5D - Moving from the ACCGov Fleet Management Office (225 Newton Bridge Road) to the Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia - Athens Office (185 Newton Bridge Road)
• Precinct 6B - Moving from the Georgia Square Mall (3700 Atlanta Highway) to the ACC Extension Office (275 Cleveland Road)
• Precinct 6D - Moving from Fire Station #4 (900 Oglethorpe Avenue) to Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary School (1150 Oglethorpe Avenue) to merge the precinct with the existing Precinct 5B located at Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary School,
• Precinct 7C - Moving from Fire Station #3 (1198 South Milledge Avenue) to Milledge Avenue Baptist Church (1690 South Milledge Avenue)
• New Precinct to Be Named/Numbered – Miriam Moore Community Center (410 McKinley Drive) or Heard Park (400 McKinley Drive)

The Board of Elections will vote on the new polling site voting locations and precinct linesduring its regular monthly meeting for July on Tuesday, July 11, 2023. A decision on the effective date of the changes will be made either at the regular monthly meeting for June on Tuesday, June 13, 2023 or after the hearings.

For more information, visit www.accgov.com/elections or call the Athens-Clarke County Elections Department at 706-613-3150.

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