Taunton Election Commission debates moving two precincts to 30 Olney Street, tables recommendation until February

The Taunton City Election Commission discussed consolidating two polling locations — St. Andrews and Liberty Christian Center — at 30 Olney Street and adding a one-day pop-up early voting site there, but voted to table a formal recommendation to the City Council until the commission’s February meeting.

Staff member Matt told commissioners the city currently has “15 polling locations. We have 16 full precincts and 2 separate precincts,” and that St. Andrews had withdrawn as a polling place because the church is limiting use to church-related functions. Matt presented 30 Olney Street as a return location for both St. Andrews and Liberty Christian Center, saying the site is close (St. Andrews about 0.3 miles, Liberty Christian Center about 0.7 miles) and has features that benefit seniors: “There’s a hundred and 3 apartments for the housing authority on-site,” he said, and the facility was recently renovated to meet ADA standards with improved flooring, lighting and ten handicap parking spots.

Matt said consolidating the two precincts under one roof could reduce rental costs and logistics work and improve access for older voters. He estimated at least $600 per election in room-rental savings and noted that a police officer detail and election workers would still be required for any additional days of service. “One police officer. You need 1 police officer per polling location,” he said, describing both cost and staffing implications.

On early voting, staff proposed in addition to the city’s already approved early voting at City Hall (8 a.m.–7 p.m. on the scheduled Tuesdays) to hold one pop-up early voting day at 30 Olney Street from 9 a.m.–5 p.m. for both the preliminary and the city election. Commissioners and staff discussed extending those hours (some suggested 9 a.m.–7 p.m. to match City Hall) but staff said 9–5 was recommended for an initial trial to reduce execution risk and allow the office to close City Hall and then set up the pop-up location later in the day.

Commissioners discussed logistics, advertising and data collection. Matt said staff would track turnout at the site to compare future results (“we can show the data that says what happened in '23 versus what happened in '25 with the new polling location and expanding services”). Commissioners raised budget and staffing concerns (police detail, overtime, and poll-worker recruitment) and asked staff to provide age-group or mail-vote breakdowns for the affected precinct prior to the commission’s next meeting.

Chronology and votes: earlier in the discussion a motion to forward a recommendation to the City Council to move the two polling places to 30 Olney Street was seconded and the commission initially recorded agreement. Later in the meeting commissioners agreed to postpone final action, and a motion to table the matter until the February meeting passed. The commission also approved routine procedural motions earlier in the meeting, including closing public input and accepting the Dec. 17 minutes.

Commissioner Frank Bridal, chairman, handled the meeting and framed the poll-site presentations; staff member Mr. Pacheco said he expects to bring additional polling-location proposals and an updated presentation to the commission in February.

Votes at a glance

- Motion to close public input: passed (voice vote). - Motion to accept minutes of Dec. 17, 2024: passed (voice vote). - Motion to forward a recommendation to the City Council to consolidate St. Andrews and Liberty Christian Center at 30 Olney Street: motion was made and seconded during the meeting; commissioners later voted to table the recommendation. - Motion to table the polling-location recommendation until the February meeting: passed (voice vote). - Motion to adjourn: passed (voice vote).

What’s next: staff will collect turnout and vote-by-mail demographic data for the affected precinct(s), refine cost estimates for police detail and staffing, and present a fuller package of proposed polling-location changes at the commission’s February meeting for a final recommendation to the City Council.