GOP seeks big cut in precincts

The plan calls for reducing the number of precints from 274 to 135.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The Republican members of the Trumbull County Board of Elections surprised their Democratic counterparts with a proposal to eliminate more than half of the current election precincts by next spring -- a move they say could save more than $110,000 a year.
Board member Ron Knight presented the board with a resolution Friday that directs the elections board staff to prepare and submit plans for reducing the county's current 274 precincts to 135 or less by March 15, 2007.
Knight said he presented the idea at Friday's board meeting with hopes of giving other members time to think it over before discussing it at the June meeting.
Kelly S. Pallante, board director, said changes in precincts are often made after the 10-year census, and in 2002, the board reduced its precincts by 10.
She said such a change would involve a lot of staff time because it involves rearranging polling places for a large number of voters and sending out post cards to the voters to let them know their new sites. She said there would not, however, be a large cost involved in doing it.
Craig Bonar, the county's Republican Party chairman and board member, said perhaps the best way to approach the issue would be to combine precincts at the same polling location where possible and wait until the next census to make more drastic changes.
Number of voters
Knight's resolution says the staff should create polling locations containing between 750 and 950 active voters. Statistics generated at the May 2 election indicated that the average precinct in the county contains 517 registered voters per precinct.
Knight said he has talked to elections officials in places like Franklin County who have around 1,000 active voters in their precincts, and he has been told that number is manageable.
Four poll workers -- two Democratic and two Republican -- staff every polling place. Taking away 139 precincts would reduce the number of poll workers by 556, and each one earns around $200 per year, Knight said. That would reduce election costs by $111,200 per year.
Pallante pointed out that laws limit the amount of precinct adjustment that can be made within cities and wards because they cannot be mixed. As a general rule, elections boards try to avoid split precincts as much as possible, she said.
Split precincts are ones in which voters in the same precinct have different candidates or issues to vote for. Split precincts pose a greater risk for error, she added.
Other reaction
Board member Sherron Platt said her initial reaction was that reducing precincts might be better left for the next census in 2010.
Christ Michelakis, County Democratic Party chairman, said he too is concerned that the timing might be bad for such a change because at the next election voters will be required to show identification. That coupled with using new touch-screen voting equipment and changing polling places could cause headaches.
Rokey Suleman, the board's deputy director, said the four-year precinct committee positions that were just elected May 2 would not be affected by such a change. They would remain in office until 2010, at which point there would be fewer seats available for them to run for, he said.
In other business, the board voted to reject 30 paper ballots used at polling places in the May election that contained various errors. The board will begin to certify results of the May 2 election next week.