The Marshall County Election Board is beginning to put ideas to paper that may affect the future of voting in Marshall County.
Thursday night, the Election Board held a public hearing on a plan that would transition their operations during election season to a vote center model. The concept aims to reduce the number of polling sites, but allow voters to cast the proper ballot from any of the locations. Thursday night’s meeting was used to explain the process, but also begin to form more concrete proposals.
Marshall County Clerk Debbie Vandemark says there is some cost savings.
“We are going to combine some of these vote sites because we don’t have the need to have quite as many sites and we will have less poll workers,” says Vandemark.
The Election Board, along with major party heads, met prior to the meeting to put some additional work into the plan. Under the proposal, which needs Marshall County Commissioner approval as well as state approval, the current 14 polling locations may eventually be lowered to 12. The Election Board made a point to declare that no decisions have been finalized.
According to documents provided to those in attendance, initial proposals involve eliminating a polling site in the eastern portion of Plymouth and a second at Lake of the Woods. The latter proposal brought questions from those in attendance – who were under the impression they may be required to drive an inconvenient distance.
Vandemark says there’s still time to consider potential alternatives to the plan
“This plan is not going to be final until the Election Board votes on it after 30 days and we analyze all this input and we try to figure out if this is the best solution for Marshall County,” says Vandemark. “We don’t want people to not vote. Our goal is to more people to vote.”
Early voting will also see satellite locations selected across the county. Overall, those familiar with the plans expressed their support for implementing the plan.
Marshall County must approve the recommendation 60 days prior to Election Day.
