Voting in a precinct different from where one's residence is located is still a possibility Jefferson County Election Commissioners would like to see become a reality soon.
During Wednesday's meeting to adjudicate provisional ballots from Tuesday's preferential primary election, the commissioners revealed some voters were turned away from precincts outside of their residential area. Two years have passed since the commission drafted a resolution to the Jefferson County Quorum Court in hopes of establishing a vote center, or a polling site where one can vote outside of his or her precinct for convenience.
"We voted to approve a letter that would be sent to the people that would make that decision on whether or not to do vote centers, and that is the Quorum Court," Commissioner Samuel Beavers said. "At this point, it's their decision. Now they haven't just done just a ton of business in the past year, so until they figure out their stuff and start doing business, they can't do that. ... It would be a great benefit to the county if they would accept that."
A message was left for Jefferson County Judge Gerald Robinson seeking comment.
Commissioners said one person was sent from a polling site in Humphrey to White Hall, and then from there to Altheimer, just to vote. Some residents, Commission Chairman Michael Adam said, have rumored if vote centers were established the number of poll centers -- there were 33 established for the primaries in Jefferson County -- would dwindle to five. Those rumors are false, Adam said.
"What it means is that any place that has internet, we can make a voting center, and we would prefer that," Adam said. "We're not going to close a poll site down in Swan Lake. We're not going to close a poll site in Humphrey. People live too far away. It's crazy."
Election officials accepted 15 of 53 provisional ballots, or those that are flagged after questions about a voter's registration status must be addressed. Among the rejected ballots, two were from people suspected to have voted twice. The first ballot each voted on counts, Adam said.
The commission will establish 19 polling sites for the April 2 runoffs for mayor between Shirley Washington and Vivian Flowers and the Ward 3, Position 1 seat between Glen Brown Sr. and William Fells III.
A runoff between the top two finishers is forced, Adam said, when in a race of more than two people the leader attained at least 40% of the vote (50% plus one vote would win an election) and the second-place candidate finished less than 20 percentage points behind the leader.