People were asking about it because a polling place had moved but people weren't sure which one. ??
Signs near St Marks said Ward 7 has moved, and most people know where they vote but not what ward # they are ???
A sample ballot in the Community News said that the Ward 7 polling place was at Hunt School, but many had heard it was moved to the Miller Center. ????
Then a sign at the Miller Center said "We've moved the polling place..." and it seemed like that sign should have been at Hunt School. ?????
A school board member told people at an NPA Town Meeting for candidates and ballot issues that the Ward 4 polling place was moved to Flynn School. ??????
Meanwhile, on Monday several people called the city to report no polling place sign at St. Marks. City came out and put an old, faded sign half-way down the driveway by the youth center, hardly visible from North Ave. After further complaints, a second sign was brought out, and both were put in a place clearly visible on the Avenue. Ch3 and Ch5 were called, and they did stories for the late news Monday night and early Tuesday morning, which helped to inform people at the last minute.
Confusing signs and moving polling places is a tactic used to suppress the vote in unfriendly districts. When asked if she thought it was intentional on the part of city hall, a repeal IRV activist said it was just more city hall sloppiness. She added that people are on edge because sealed ballot boxes from Ward 7 were improperly breached a few years ago.
As a community we have to address this sloppiness, and make sure it does not continue. The Ward 4 and Ward 7 NPA joint steering committee calls on Ward chairs of all parties, and city party chairs, to join the NPA in hosting a community meeting to discuss election issues and problems, document them, and prevent recurrence.
It would be great to have large, clear signs like this one, in several languages, put out at least a week before the election at all polling places in the city. What else can we do to make voting easy for people. How about voting on Saturday, in warm weather?
