Is one centralized polling place a viable option for the city of Indianola?
That is the question that is on the mind of David Rushing and members of the Indianola Municipal Democratic Executive Committee.
Rushing, the committee’s chairman, believes that going to one central polling location would alleviate many of the issues they currently experience during elections.
He said there is too much confusion about where people need to go to in order to vote.
At a Wednesday morning session, Rushing asked the committee for and received approval to begin conversations with city officials on the possibility of designating one place to vote instead of the five that are now spread across the city.
With a central voting place, if a person showed up at the wrong precinct he or she would simply have to go across the room to the correct precinct, Rushing said, not across town.
He made it clear that the move would not eliminate the five distinct voting wards, but only allow for the polling places for each ward to be housed under one roof. Any such move would have to first be approved by the city board of aldermen and Rushing emphasized that if the committee were in support of him starting the dialog nothing would be done without the group’s approval.
“Nothing will be done without coming to ya’ll to get more conversation,” Rushing said, adding they have talked about it among themselves for eight years but nothing has happened and he wants to initiate the dialog with the city and not wait until the last minute. If it’s going to happen Rushing said he would like to see it in place at least a year before the next municipal election.
Committee member Cynthia Armstrong agreed with Rushing and added that during Tuesday’s runoff election she observed an enormous amount of congestion when voters, school buses and parents picking up and dropping off children all converged on the campuses at one time.
With Gentry High and Carver Elementary being designated polling places, Rushing said school officials would also like the situation resolved.
Adding to that element of confusion is the fact that some voters have different polling sites in county and city elections.
Rushing said it would be premature to talk about a location but added that the ideal spot would support three essential elements, accessibility, parking and central location and there are some possibilities within the city.
Committee member Foster King said he expected there would be some “pushback” from the citizens about having to drive across town.
“We need to get them out of Gentry High School and we need to get the elections out of Carver Elementary,” Rushing said, adding there was just too much going on at once, which is why in addition to the centralized location, he is also proposing moving the municipal election day from Tuesday to Saturday.
If that were approved, then one of the schools could possibly be a central voting place. He said the change would likely result in increased voter turnout and make it easier to find poll workers since most people would not have to get off work to go to the polls. “Whether it happens or not, we’ve started the discussion,” Rushing said.
According to Rushing, the final decisions would have to be made by the election commission.
