Eight November Voting Precinct Locations Moved

Eight Van Zandt County polling places for the November General Election will be relocated, mostly due to accessibility and parking issues.

County commissioners approved the changes on Tuesday, including the moving of all three precinct voting locations out of their traditional homes in the county courthouse.

Van Zandt County Clerk Charlotte Bledsoe said she feared the courthouse would not be able to handle the voter turnout expected for Nov. 4.

"We all know the courthouse is not the most accessible building in the world," Bledsoe said.

Finding sites that appeared to be better suited for wheelchair access also figured into Bledsoe’s recommendations. She said she looked at churches in the Oakland and Colfax communities for the Voting Precinct No. 1 box before settling on the East Center Baptist Church on Farm-to-Market Road 1652.

That box had been hosted at the county treasurer’s office in the courthouse. The other two boxes to be moved out of the courthouse are Voting Precinct No. 12 and No. 24.

Formerly in the county courtroom, Precinct No. 12 will move to the Farm Bureau Auditorium on Highway 243 in Canton. Precinct No. 24 will be shifted from the courthouse’s law library to the First United Methodist Church in Canton.

Bledsoe said a different situation arose with Voting Precinct No. 4 being in Wiley’s Gun Shop in last year’s General Election. The shop’s owner, C.B. Wiley, is on the ballot running unopposed for Precinct 2 Constable.

"The election law does not allow a polling place to be in someone’s residence," Bledsoe said, "but when I called the state (election commission) about this, they said it had never come up before."

Precinct No. 4 will be moved to Teel Church of Christ on Van Zandt County Road 2504.

Other relocations include: Voting Precinct No. 3 moving from the Phalba Community Center to Phalba Independent Church; Precinct No. 6 going from the County Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace office to the Grand Saline Chamber of Commerce Pavilion; Precinct No. 11 moving from the County Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace office to the Ben Wheeler Fire Department; and Precinct No. 28 moving from the Bateman Center in Edgewood to the Edgewood Civic Center/Senior Building.

Also, Bledsoe said she has reserved the Free State Building at the Van Zandt County Fairgrounds for a special Saturday early voting session on Oct. 25 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Otherwise, early voting will take place Mondays through Fridays Oct. 20-31 from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. in the courthouse’s law library.

Bledsoe mentioned the Free State Building also will be the site of training sessions for election judges on Oct. 11 and Oct. 18.

In a separate matter on Tuesday’s commissioners’ court agenda, the court approved a recommended replacement of two election judges and the addition of two alternate judges and one early voting board member.