Plan targets use of schools on election days

Parents say having polling sites in schools endangers pupils.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Some parents and one state lawmaker, citing concerns about pupil safety, want schools to have the option of refusing to serve as polling places.
Elections officials say that's not practical.
Since last fall, a committee of the High Point Elementary School Parent-Teacher Association in suburban Gahanna has been lobbying legislators to change a state law saying any public building may be used for elections, which means schools cannot refuse.
"I was shocked to learn that all of the procedures and rules in place on a daily basis to protect our children were waived on Election Day," said Ellen Elleman, who moved to Ohio two years ago and had two children at High Point at the time.
Those rules include keeping all doors except the front door locked during school hours and requiring visitors to sign in at the office.
Republican Rep. Larry Wolpert of Hilliard has drafted a bill that would permit schools to decline to serve as polling places if an alternative site is possible.
Opposed to proposal
The Franklin County Board of Elections, which uses more schools than any other county, strongly opposes the idea.
County elections board director Guy Reece said about 45 percent of the county's 515 polling places are in schools. He said the board tries to locate voting booths in areas used infrequently by pupils.
"Currently we have no alternatives but to use schools" because the board wants to ensure that polling locations are near voters, he said. Locations also must be accessible to the disabled and have plenty of parking.
In Mahoning County, about 30 percent of the 187 polling places are in schools.
"If I were to pull out my polling locations in schools, my budget would quadruple," elections director Michael Sciortino said.
It costs $110 per precinct to use private sites as polling places. He does not pay for most public locations.
The state's 88 counties use 6,627 polling places and 1,635 of those are in schools, the High Point group said. Fourteen counties don't use any schools, and 54 use 10 schools or fewer.
"It's the urban counties that use the schools. Many rural counties don't use any schools," Elleman said.
Rejects school closing
School districts in some states, such as North Carolina and Florida, give pupils Election Day off.
Even if that were done in Ohio, Elleman said it wouldn't answer her concerns. She said people still would have access to school buildings and could stay in the building or leave a dangerous package.
"We know the law will change if something tragic happens," she said. "We just don't need it to be a knee-jerk reaction. We don't want it to be 'I told you so.' It's not the same world that it was."