Council opts for voter access over savings

The Vernon Town Council defeated a motion to reconfigure the town's voting districts, by a vote of 10-1, on Jan. 17. The plan, as presented by registrars Judith Beaudreau and Cynthia Madden, would have created four districts where there are now six.

Beaudreau said the redistricting came after the statistics were returned from the last election, as well as from previous ones, showing that for the most part, people who wanted to vote are the ones who came out and voted, but some chief concerns were that some residents of Rockville did not have adequate transportation to Center 375.

“We put them on the bus line to go to Northeast School,” Beaudreau said, adding that the four schools selected as polling places were also the ones with the largest gymnasiums and quite a lot of available parking.

The plan would also lower the costs of machinery – specifically memory cards for the scanning machines – that the town must pay for, by lowering the number of machines needed. Beaudreau said the total savings would be an estimated $9,000.

Criticisms of the plan included one from Councilman Bill Campbell, who said that the proposed District 4, in the southern part of town, would have to travel further (to Vernon Center Middle School) than voters in other districts.

Beaudreau explained that the only other option would be Lake Street School, which does not have the necessary gymnasium capacity, especially for the upcoming presidential election, which typically sees larger voter turnout.

“There's no way you can do this under state law,” Beaudreau said, explaining the logistics and required distance between voting booths.

Still, the question of access persisted.

“I'm a big proponent of making voting as easy and accessible as possible to the citizens,” said Councilman Tom DiDio. “By eliminating two voting locations, I think we're harming the ability of those citizens to vote.”

It would seem that the defeated plan was the last chance to change the districts before the presidential primary this April, as the deadline to do so is Jan. 24.

Beaudreau and Madden said the districts would still need to be re-drawn, however, in time for Election Day in November, due to shifts in population within the state assembly 8th and 56th districts.