“It was a valuable experiment. We learned what worked well and what things didn’t,” said Burleigh County Auditor Kevin Glatt about using voting centers for this week’s special election on Bismarck’s smoking ban. One center was placed at the Bismarck Civic Center and one at the VFW Sports Arena.
There are now 35 voting precincts and sites throughout the county; of those, 24 are in Bismarck’s borders. Glatt downsized voting sites for the special election as a test run for using vote centers in the future.
Voter reaction was mixed. Waiting times ranged from a few minutes to more than an hour. Some frustrated voters turned around late Tuesday afternoon at the Bismarck Civic Center when faced with the long lines.
Glatt said it’s too early to say if a vote center system could be used regularly in the future. His aim has been efficiency and cost savings. “We’ve been throwing around ideas. We received lots of positive comments. We received some criticism and we will use that constructively,” he said.
“A Legislative committee will come out with the new district boundaries this fall. Then it is up to the counties to draw the precinct lines and put their policies in place,” said Glatt.
Full Article: Jury still out in voting centers issue.