The City of Albuquerque is cutting a lot of its polling locations to help alleviate the long lines and confusion for voters. The county could soon be following suit. City Clerk Amy Bailey said for the October municipal elections the word precinct is out. Recently, city councilors approved the plan to move away from precinct polling locations to voting convenience centers. “We have decided to do Election Day a little bit differently than how it’s been done in the past,” Bailey said.
Bailey said that plan would consolidate the city’s 168 voting sites to 49. The convenience is that voters can vote at any location. “The most important thing for people to know is you’re not assigned to you’re not assigned to one particular place to vote on Election Day,” Bailey said.
Bailey said it will cut down on confusion for the city’s typical voter turnout of 30,000 and the wait time should be affected.
The county is also looking at the method. The only difference is it handles presidential elections which means the voter turnout is much larger.
Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver said during the 2008 presidential election more than 282,000 people voted in the county. She said about 80,000 showed up on Election Day at 172 polling sites.
“This would be probably the largest jurisdiction to successfully implement voting convenience centers in the country,” Toulouse Oliver said.
Toulouse Oliver has written up a propo
Full Article: Fewer voting sites, shorter lines | Albuquerque, N.M. | KRQE News 13.