The Republican majority on the Montgomery County Board of Elections, led by an appointee of Gov. Larry Hogan (R), voted Monday to shift two heavily used early-voting sites to less populous locations, prompting Democratic charges of voter suppression. The board voted 3 to 2 to move early voting from the Marilyn Praisner Community Center in Burtonsville, which serves high-poverty East County communities along U.S. 29, to the Longwood Community Recreation Center in Brookeville, 13 miles to the northwest.
The panel also shifted early balloting from the Jane Lawton Community Recreation Center in Chevy Chase, about a half-mile from the Bethesda Metro station, to the Potomac Community Recreation Center, on Falls Road, 10 miles to the northwest.
Unlike on Election Day, when voters must go to their assigned precincts, early-voting sites are open to all voters in the county. More than 8,000 people cast early ballots at the Lawton and Praisner centers in the 2014 general election, more than 20 percent of Montgomery’s total.
Full Article: GOP-led Montgomery County election board shifts early-voting sites – The Washington Post.
The Voting News
A News Service of the Verified Voting Foundation
