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Precinct reduction proposed
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Trumbull County Board of Elections member Craig Bonar is proposing a dramatic reduction in the number of voting precincts next month, asking for a reduction of 30 in Warren and 62 elsewhere in the county.
The board has made smaller reductions over the past two years, dropping from 274 to 250 in 2009 and then to 238 in 2010.
If elections-board members approve the reduction, the county would have 146 polling precincts in time for the November election — for a 47 percent reduction in two years.
Warren would drop from 55 polling places to 25.
Bonar, a Republican, says the reduction would save about $72,000 per election, or about $144,000 per year. Each reduction would be accomplished by combining two or three precincts into one.
“We have precincts with fewer than 400 registered voters,” Bonar said. “State law allows for 1,400 per precinct. We have one in Bazetta Township with 1,400 voters, and we’re not aware of any problems there.”
Democrat Chris Michelakis, board chairman, says he’ll vote against the measure at the board’s next meeting, 3 p.m. May 2, because he believes it will create long lines at polling places, especially during the presidential election in November 2012.
Michelakis says he believes the reason Bonar is proposing the reduction is that Republicans believe it could help their party defeat President Barack Obama in the next election.
“What they really want to do is create long lines to beat Obama,” Michelakis said. “In a presidential election there’s a lot of voters. Without a doubt there could be long lines in 2012.”
Republican Kathi Creed said she would vote for Bonar’s precinct reduction.
Tuesday’s board of elections meeting was the first one for new Democratic board member Sandra Stabile Harwood, a four-term former Ohio House member representing the 65th District from Niles who was not eligible to serve a fifth term in 2010 because of Ohio’s term-limits law.
Stabile Harwood was appointed to the elections board last month by Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican and former speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives.
Husted took the unusual step of appointing his own choice to the elections board after turning down Trumbull County Democratic Party chairman and county Commissioner Dan Polivka for the position.
Democrat Stabile Harwood said after Tuesday’s meeting she doesn’t know yet how she will vote on Bonar’s proposal because she just learned of it.
In the event of a 2-2 tie, the matter will be sent to Husted for the tie-breaker, Bonar said.
In addition to the 30 precincts in Warren, the plan calls for the elimination of the following:
Bazetta Township, one; Braceville Township, one; Bristol Township, one; Brookfield Township, three; Champion Township, three; Cortland, three; Girard, five; Howland Township, eight; Hubbard Township, one; Hubbard City, four; Kinsman Township, one; Liberty Township, four; Lordstown Village, one; McDonald Village, one; Mecca Township, one; Mesopotamia Township, one; Newton Township, one; Newton Falls, one; Niles, 10; Vernon Township, one; Vienna Township, two; Warren Township, two; West Farmington Village, one; and Weathersfield Township, five.