Precinct merger discussed

The White County Board of Elections and Registration received its first round of feedback this week on a proposed consolidation of the Helen and Robertstown voting precincts.

Only two people commented during the Jan. 24 public hearing. The elections board plans to hold a second public hearing about consolidation at 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 24, in the White County Board of Commissioners meeting room at 1235 Helen Highway in Cleveland.

Consolidation has been cited as a way to streamline voting operations, reducing costs and staffing burdens when the pool of available pollworkers has diminished.

Helen City Commissioner Cinnamon Ruston spoke at Monday’s hearing, seeking clarification about the potential impact of rolling Robertstown precinct voting activity into the current into the Helen City Hall polling place. She asked if the city would be expected to share costs and resources related to a countywide election.

Election Board Chair Dwayne Turner said the county would continue to pay for pollworkers and ballot machine operations for countywide voting held at City Hall. (The city of Helen has overseen its own elections for municipal races.)

Early voting would continue to be held at the county elections and registration office on Helen Highway.

County Elections Supervisor Akyn Bailey addressed concerns about City Hall parking, saying the 38 available spaces should be adequate during voting. Ruston added that not all spaces would be available for voters during the week due to visitors coming in for regular business.

In previous discussions, elections officials pointed out that the Helen and Robertstown precincts have the fewest voters among the county’s 11 precincts. A voter turnout report from the November 2020 presidential election showed Helen with 648 and Robertstown with 422. Even combined, the 1,070 figure would have been less than all other precincts, except for the 974 in the Blue Ridge precinct.

Bailey said the actual Election Day foot traffic would likely be less. From that same election for both precincts, a total of 479 ballots were cast during in-person early voting or absentee by mail, with the remaining voters showing up on Election Day.

Bailey said the rough costs for holding elections in the currently separate precincts is around $1,600, which she projected would only be about $870 if the precincts were to be combined to a single polling place.

Robertstown voting has been held at Center Baptist Church, but if merged with the Helen precinct the polling site transferred to Helen City Hall, roughly a driving distance of 1.5 miles. Bailey said on average, it would add about 2 miles to Robertstown voters commute, depending on where they lived.

A longtime Robertstown voter also spoke at the hearing in opposition to the change. The elections board took no action, with plans for a second hearing in place.

Officials have discussed moving forward with potential consolidation before the 2022 election primary season in May.