Still, no excuse for not voting

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Still, no excuse for not voting

Opinions

Friday, 15 January 2010 12:48

We can’t fault Osceola County commissioners and the supervisor of elections for trying to save money by merging precincts. We also can’t fault the Osceola County School District for asking that public elementary schools be removed as polling places. We also don’t believe it will be a great inconvenience to voters, as long as those with a precinct change have adequate notice before the next election – and it sounds like they will.
Twenty-one precincts were merged with nearby precincts, reducing the number of voting places to 95. The change will affect 27,980 voters – about 20 percent of the county’s registered voters. The merger, we have been told, will save the county between $50,000 and $70,000. That is not a lot of money in the overall scheme of things but it will help local government budgets. When residential growth resumes – and it will someday because people want to live in Florida – we’ll be thinking about expanding the number of polling sites once again.
While Florida law says we have the right to use schools as polling locations, there’s always the associated problem of school security, inadequate parking and traffic congestion at the start and end of the school day at some elementary schools that make them less than ideal as places at which to cast ballots. Voters shouldn’t have to wait just to drive onto school grounds or park many blocks away from a school site because parents are dropping off or picking up students and congesting streets.
Some of the county’s busiest precincts will remain and the level of service on election days should not be affected. We hope that is the case. The next election will be Aug. 24, the state primary, followed by the general election Nov. 2.
In addition, voters always have the option to vote early at selected sites in the county as well as to vote by absentee ballot, making the exercise of our constitutional right that much easier. Early voting begins 15 days prior to an election at designated voting sites and ends two days before the election. Plus, early voting is conducted eight hours per day and for eight hours for the weekend.
Even with the consolidation of precincts, we don’t expect anyone will have a valid excuse for not voting.