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The relocation of six Lycoming County polling sites was approved by the Board of Elections this week, a move that was necessary to bring the county in compliance with American with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements.
Three of the polling places will now be in Williamsport Area School District schools, with two, the 11th and 12th Wards at Cochran Elementary, 1500 Cherry St. and the other, the 7th Ward at the Williamsport Area Middle School, 2800 West Fourth St.
Allowing voters in schools on election days had been a topic of discussion at a Williamsport school board last fall with many board members seemingly not in favor of what has now become a reality by the Board of Elections' vote. School board members and administrators had cited student safety as their top objection to having voters in buildings when school is in session. They also cited the logistics of the whole process, such as maintenance costs and security issues as other reasons for their opposition to use of school facilities.
"Even if they close down the school district for the two elections, they're concerned about their students and the safety of their students and the accessibility of the public going into wherever and having access to their school. I think that's very important because it's a legitimate concern that every superintendent has as well as the teachers and students," said commissioner Tony Mussare, who, along with Judge Ryan Tira and commissioner Rick Mirabito currently comprise the Board of Elections. Tira is sitting on the board during commissioner Scott Metzger's re-election bid.
In making his argument at the Board of Elections meeting for the change to school facilities, Forrest Lehman, director of Lycoming County Voter Services, quoted the state's election code which allows polling sites in school buildings.
"The election code says the boards of elections have the right to use schools," Lehman said.
The county had been tasked by the Department of Justice with bringing all of its polling places into ADA compliance following a tour of several of the sites by the DOJ. Of the 81 county polling places, the DOJ had determined that 25 were in need of being fixed immediately.
Part of the process in determining whether a polling place could be brought into compliance or if another site needed to be found was in checking accessibility.
"We had a person who's trained in accessibility issues under the American with Disabilities Act go and look at all of these with a checklist of what's required and then those decisions were made based on the checklist," Mirabito said.
Although neither the board nor Lehman would go into the specifics of why a polling place was deemed unsuitable, Mirabito said that the main reason was they "didn't comply."
"We cannot spend tons and tons of public money making private churches or synagogues accessible," Mirabito said.
"We can do things with municipal buildings, we can do things with schools," he said in answer to a Williamsport resident's question of why their polling site was moved.
Tira addressed the argument that some districts have made that having polling places in their buildings is not consistent with a school's mission.
"I think there's some irony in that because we should be encouraging and showing students how important it is to be participating in your elections because it's your future, it's your present, it's how you participate. I find some irony that they'd say it's inconsistent," Tira said.
Lehman noted that in an "age of declining civic participation...youth have some of the lowest voting rates."
Moving polling places to school buildings was done as a "last resort," according to Mussare. "We've done everything that we could to leave that our last option," Mussare said.
Other changes in polling places approved by the board were: Muncy Creek Township to the Muncy Masonic Lodge, 28 Brummer Pond Road; Williamsport 4th Ward to the Penn College Professional Development Center, 1067 Hagan Way on the Penn College Campus; and Williamsport 9th Ward to the Monsignor Fleming Parish Center, 720 West Fourth St.