Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Polling‑places topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board approves multiple temporary and permanent polling‑place relocations and co‑locations through 2025
Summary
The Board of Elections approved a package of polling‑place changes — one permanent relocation and several co‑locations — to cover sites that gave 90‑day notice they could no longer host elections; one temporary relocation was approved only for a possible July 15 runoff.
Director Fall presented a block of proposed polling‑place relocations and co‑locations after receiving 90‑day notices from current hosts that they could no longer serve as polling places.
She told the board the moves respond to sites that "gave us their 90 days notice that they are no longer able to serve as a polling place," and that most affected locations had been churches no longer willing or able to host elections.
The board approved a temporary relocation for Murdock 01 to Dodgen Middle School only "in the event of a July 15 runoff" if the church could not host that date. The board also approved one permanent relocation — Clarkdale 01 moving from Refuge Community Church to Old Clarkdale Community Center — and a set of co‑locations that will be in effect beginning June 17 through the end of 2025 (except Mars Hill 01, which would start July 15). Director Fall described co‑locations as two precinct polling places operating inside one building with separate ballot scanners and precinct‑specific paper records.
Approved co‑locations and relocations (motioned and passed unanimously):
- Murdock 01 → temporary move to Dodgen Middle School (only if July 15 runoff required). - Clarkdale 01 → permanent relocation to Old Clarkdale Community Center (from Refuge Community Church). - North Cobb 01 → co‑located at North Cobb Senior Center (with Acworth 1C). - East Side 02 → co‑located at Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center (with Powers Ferry 01). - Kennesaw 4A → co‑located at Ben Robertson Community Center (with Kennesaw 3A); city council approval required for municipal polling site. - Bells Ferry 02 → co‑located at Covenant Presbyterian Church (with EL02/Christ Worship Center voters redirected); - WLO 01 (Willie 001) → co‑located at Wesley Chapel Methodist Church (with P001); - Kemp 02 → co‑located at Lovingood Middle School (with Oregon 01); - Clarkdale 02 → co‑located at Linked Up Church (with Sweetwater 1); - Mars Hill 01 → co‑located at Durham Middle School (Durham 01) beginning July 15.
Director Fall explained how co‑locations will work operationally: voters will "check‑in at the same poll pads" and receive a card that encodes the voter's precinct; that card opens the correct ballot on a ballot‑marking device and each precinct will have a separately labeled scanner. She said the scanners are programmed to reject ballots for the wrong precinct so a ballot placed in the wrong scanner will be returned to the voter or routed to an emergency bin if needed.
Board members asked questions about staffing, provisional stations and physical signage. Director Fall said managers and assistant managers from each co‑located precinct will be present; clerks will be reduced where possible. Provisional voting will be handled at a single provisional station in a co‑located site, but with separate paper ballots and separate secure bags for the precincts.
All polling‑place changes on the agenda were moved, seconded and approved unanimously by the board. Director Fall said most relocations are temporary through the end of 2025 while the county considers potential future consolidations to begin in 2026.
The board asked elections staff to continue coordinating with municipal partners where municipal approval is required and to confirm facility availability and accessibility features.
