CLEVELAND COUNTY, N.C.,None — Cleveland County election officials expect to halve the number of voting sites in Shelby under a consolidation plan that would eliminate five of the county’s 26 polling places.
The county Board of Elections voted on Feb. 7 to consolidate Shelby’s eight voting sites into four and eliminate the Holly Springs precinct’s polling place in Mooresboro. That decision’s drawn criticism from the Cleveland County Democratic Party, which has asked the board to rescind its vote and delay polling site consolidation until after the general election in November.
“Cleveland County has a history of successfully merging precincts,” said Elections Director Debra Blanton. “We certainly know how to do it. We have the electronic equipment to make voting easy on Election Day. “Logistically, the Cleveland County Board of Elections is set up to make this change.”
Blanton has applied approval from the N.C. State Board of Elections and the U.S. Department of Justice. Cleveland County is one of 40 North Carolina counties that must have any changes to election rules or procedures pre-approved by a federal judge under a provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The Department of Justice typically takes 60 days to approve such requests, Blanton said. Cleveland County should have its new polling place map approved or denied by mid-April. It would take effect for the May 8 primary elections.
Consolidation controversy
“This isn’t a partisan matter,” Democratic Party Chairman Davy Lowman said in a statement. “Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians and unaffiliated (voters) will all be affected.”
In a letter sent to the elections board Friday, Lowman asked the board for an opportunity to speak at its next meeting. He included a resolution approved by the county Democratic Party Executive Committee outlining its opposition.
The decision to consolidate five polling places was made without public input, the resolution states, noting that consolidation wasn’t on the agenda for the board’s Feb. 7 meeting. Democrats argue that the “sudden and arbitrary change” in polling sites will diminish voter turnout in the May primary and December general elections.
“(H)istorically, changes of such magnitude have not been made during a presidential election year, but in off-years when fewer wishing to vote are affected,” the resolution states.
Some Republicans are also concerned about the timing of the polling place consolidation.
“I think it will confuse the voters,” said Wayne King, vice chairman of the N.C. Republican Party and an executive committee member of the Cleveland County GOP. “It should be the mission of the Board of Elections to encourage voting, You should make it easy as possible so people won’t be confused about where they go to vote.”
King said he would be in favor of polling place consolidation in an off-year. But fellow Republican Neal Hodges said he supports the switch.
“It needed to be consolidated because the Board of Elections is spending a heck of a lot of money on precincts where you don’t have a lot of people voting,” said Hodges, who stepped down last month as vice chairman of the Cleveland County GOP. “It’s a way of saving money.”
More miles, fewer voters
Nearly seven miles separate the Holly Springs polling place, Boiling Springs Rural Fire Station No. 2, from the Boiling Springs site, the Boiling Springs Baptist Church life enrichment center. That could mean a more than 3 percent drop in voter turnout, according to Dr. Ben Gaskins, a political science professor at Gardner-Webb University.
Gaskins cites a University of Maryland study showing that voter turnout increases by about half a percent for each mile in closer proximity to a polling place. If the converse holds true, voters are more likely to stay home if they have to drive farther to get to the polls.
“The act of casting a ballot is as close to a sacred duty as you have in the United States,” Gaskins said, “and we should never skimp on reliable, accessible methods for voting.”
Gaskins said the overall impact of reduced voter turnout may be “relatively negligible” in state and national races, but in local contests, the absence of a couple dozen votes could make a more substantial difference.
Consolidating polling sites could be a smart move if it saves large sums of money and can be accomplished with little inconvenience to far-flung voters, Gaskins said, but he questions whether the savings is worth the possible reduction in voter participation.
“The logic is there,” he said. “The question is: Do the benefits outweigh the costs of making it slightly more challenging for people to vote?”
Board splits 2-1
The three-member Board of Elections cast two non-unanimous votes to consolidate the voting sites, according to minutes from the board’s Feb. 7 meeting.
Board member Derrick Haynes and Secretary Kathy Livsie voted to consolidate the Shelby polling sites and Chairman Steve Wells abstained, the minutes state. Haynes and Livsie also voted to consolidate the Holly Springs polling place into Boiling Springs, with Wells voting against the motion.
The consolidation reduces the amount of voting machines and poll workers needed, according to the minutes. Cleveland County residents will be assigned to the same precincts, but residents of the five precincts without polling places will vote in nearby precincts.
The Star obtained a draft copy of the Feb. 7 meeting minutes, which have not been formally approved by the Board of Elections. Draft documents are public records under North Carolina law.
Wells and Haynes are Democrats and Livsie is a Republican. Members of county election boards are appointed by the State Board of Elections. The political party of the sitting governor receives majority representation.
WSOC
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
