The Chatham County Elections Board on Monday went back to square one with a controversial plan to consolidate polling sites.
The elections board has been taking heat for a plan to get rid of small voting precincts, move others and generally change where people vote. The NAACP has said that could disenfranchise minority voters.
Now the board is reversing course, but only on procedural grounds. They’re starting the process over by having another board, the Board of Registrars, make recommendations as to which polling sites should change.
It’s not clear whether that will make any difference in the outcome. Elections board Chairman Ray Thomas says, “The law says that you may ask them to do this, but stops short of telling you whether you are under any kind of agreement to accept what they have, or a portion of what they offer or none of what they offer.”
The elections board has been taking input on the plan from a host of elected officials and at contentious public meetings for months. They reversed course on advice from their attorney.
The elections board has been taking heat for a plan to get rid of small voting precincts, move others and generally change where people vote. The NAACP has said that could disenfranchise minority voters.
Now the board is reversing course, but only on procedural grounds. They’re starting the process over by having another board, the Board of Registrars, make recommendations as to which polling sites should change.
It’s not clear whether that will make any difference in the outcome. Elections board Chairman Ray Thomas says, “The law says that you may ask them to do this, but stops short of telling you whether you are under any kind of agreement to accept what they have, or a portion of what they offer or none of what they offer.”
The elections board has been taking input on the plan from a host of elected officials and at contentious public meetings for months. They reversed course on advice from their attorney.
