Lumpkin Co. may consolidate polling places

DAHLONEGA - Lumpkin County is considering a plan to consolidate polling places which could cut the cost of holding an election almost in half.

County officials are considering reducing the number of voting places by eleven.

"What we are proposing, in order to save 45% of election costs per election, which costs $20-22,000 for a large general or primary and $10-15,000 for a small runoff, is to consolidate the current 15 precincts into the 4 Board of Education/Board of Commissioners districts," Kimberly Pruitt, Supervisor of Elections and Chief Registrar said. "We would then have Precinct One possibly voting at Lumpkin County Middle School, Precinct Two voting at Blackburn Elementary, Precinct Three voting at Longbranch Elementary and Precinct Four voting at Lumpkin County High School."

Pruitt said this would not only save money, but the polling places would be in more visible, centralized locations.

As for the costing saving, Pruitt said "The largest cost of an election is in poll worker pay (and) state law mandates at least three poll workers, consisting of a manager and two assistant managers be assigned to each precinct" regardless of the expected voter turnout.

"Some of our precincts are very small and some are quite large, ranging from 313 voters to 2,404 voters. Regardless of how small, we must staff the precincts with at least three poll workers, which is a total of $460 at minimum staff (Managers make $150 for the 14 hour day and $20 for attending mandated training, assistant managers make $125 for the day and $20 for training, if clerks are needed, they make $100 for the day and $20 for training.) We must also issue at least 2 voting (machines), by law, for each precinct, even the smallest."



Pruitt said that for each election "I distribute the number of voting units based upon the number of registered voters in each precinct as a percentage, and issue that percentage of voting units. Currently our largest precinct, Auraria, is issued only 7 voting units because several smaller precincts must have 2 voting units each. If we were to consolidate, each precinct would have 13 to 14 voting units per precinct."


Pruitt and county manager Stan Kelley recently presented their proposal to the Lumpkin County Board of Education.

She said "if the Board of Education and the Board of Commissioners are in agreement, then we will have a public hearing on the matter..."

She added that the public has the right to submit a petition if they are opposed to the consolidation. Only after all three groups are in agreement, will we then submit to the Federal Department of Justice for approval. They have sixty days to review the consolidation proposal. If the Department of Justice approves, then, and only then, will consolidation begin. If all were to fall into place, Spring of 2010 would be the earliest this change would take effect."

As of Tuesday, Pruitt said she had heard from two voters stating that they do not wish for their precinct to be consolidated because "they feel that it removes historical militia lines in the county. But, she said "again, our purpose is not to destroy history. Each community would still be a community with all of its rich history. We are not asking to do away with the Yahoola Community or the Frogtown Community or any of the other communities."

On the other hand she said "we have had two voters state that they believe it is a very smart and simple plan. It would make everything more centralized, reduce voter confusion and use public buildings for the public.