Community Impact reports that a discussion quickly expanded into election day operations regarding lack of staffers and how the county runs polling sites, when Montgomery County Commissioners on March 5th approved updates tied to the May 2nd election.
In exchange for adding the George and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Library as part of the May 2nd joint elections preparations, Precinct 3 Commissioner Ritch Wheeler asked the court to remove the Kevin Brady Community Center as an early voting location.
Because of last-minute location changes during the March 3 primaries, according to Wheeler, voters were left looking for the right polling location.
He said, “I had 500 people . . . that showed up on election day at the wrong location because we had to change it on the Friday before.”
He said it is not equipment, but staffing, that may be the biggest strain on local elections heading into May 2nd. He said officials are saying the county is struggling to fill the poll worker roles needed to keep dozens of sites smoothly operating.
The court plans to return to the topic, according to Judge Mark Keough, and take a closer look at how the county assigns and recruits election workers.
