Cape voting precincts consolidated to save money

Ten Cape Girardeau polling locations have been consolidated into five, a decision elections officials say will save taxpayers more than $38,000 in new voting equipment.

The move will mean about 8,323 of the city's overall 24,596 registered voters will be voting in new spots, according to data provided by Cape Girardeau County Clerk Kara Clark Summers. The change will take effect with the Feb. 7 presidential primary, she said.

Letters have gone out to the affected voters within the last two weeks and Summers has spoken to several organizations to help get the word out, she said.

What sparked the change, Summers said, was the purchase of new electronic ballot readers, she said, which cost the county more than $200,000. By consolidating the voting places, she said, they only had to buy 60 new readers countywide instead of 70. Each precinct has a regular ballot reader and one that is accessible to the disabled.

The new ballot readers were needed, she said, because existing equipment had become problematic, including coming up with incorrect tabulations and frequent breakdowns. The new equipment is more efficient, more accurate and more durable, she said.

"We're not going to make everyone happy," she said. "Somebody's going to have to drive a little bit farther. It's going to be an inconvenience. But when you're looking at the cost reduction, we think it was a good decision."

In making the changes, Summers said, accessibility, parking, security and voter privacy were all taken into consideration. The consolidation will also result in a more evenly distributed number of voters per polling location, with each of the nine polling locations having between 2,334 and 3,525 registered voters.

Those who used to vote at Red Star Baptist Church and Centenary Methodist Church will now vote at Christ Church of the Heartland. Those who voted at Grace United Methodist Church will now go to St. Andrew's Lutheran Church.

Fellowship Baptist Church and House of Hope voters will now cast ballots at the Shawnee Sports Complex. Those who voted at Cape Church of Christ will now vote at Cape Girardeau City Hall. Two precincts at Bethany Baptist Church will still vote there, but the two precincts will be reported together instead of separately, she said.

Unchanged polling locations include the Arena Building, La Croix United Methodist Church and Westminster Presbyterian Church. Those who already voted at city hall and St. Andrew's will continue to do so.

No out-county precincts were combined, she said, because most of those precincts are already spread out.

Summers has received four or five calls from voters who weren't happy about the changes. But not everyone who has to vote at a new location was displeased.

Ruth Dockins has voted at Red Star Baptist Church for more than two decades. But the Southeast Missouri Area Agency on Aging employee said she was glad government officials are looking at ways to save taxpayer dollars.

"Some of the polling places aren't that busy at all," Dockins said. "The first time I have to wait in a long line, I'll probably hate it. But I'm glad she's looking at ways to save money."

smoyers@semissourian.com

388-3642

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