Accomack supervisors agree to schedule public hearing on moving Matomkin polling place after phone‑service and safety complaints

Accomack County supervisors voted March 19 to let the county electoral board pursue a public hearing and formal process to consider relocating Precinct 502 from Matomkin Elementary School to the Mary Ann Smith Cultural Center, with the cultural center’s library as an alternate if needed.

Electoral board chair Elizabeth Bell told the board the Matomkin site serves “1,000 plus voters” but has recurring problems that make running elections difficult. Roger Amor, the electoral board’s secretary, told supervisors “the whole deal breaker on everything is phone communication,” saying the lack of reliable cell or landline service prevents poll workers from contacting the registrar’s office to verify same‑day registration and precinct assignments.

Bell and multiple poll workers who spoke during public comment described other problems at Matomkin: inconsistent entry points from year to year, cramped or shifting layouts that reduce voter privacy, limited parking and dim or absent lighting at an entrance used during evening voting. Volunteer poll worker Sue Mastel said workers had to leave doors open late in the day to accommodate voters arriving after sunset because there was no exterior lighting at one door.

Why it matters: under Virginia’s same‑day registration rules, poll workers must be able to contact the registrar to confirm an applicant’s address and correct precinct. Electoral board members said that inability to verify addresses on site has led to provisional ballots that later had to be disallowed, a risk they said could prevent eligible voters’ ballots from counting.

Board action and timeline The board did not relocate the polling place at the meeting. Instead supervisors approved a motion to schedule the public hearing and begin the statutory notice and comment process that state law requires. County staff told the board that a formal move requires public advertisement (twice in the newspaper) and state review; one board member cited an estimate of about 135 days for the full timeline from scheduling to a final state determination.

Supervisor (name listed in meeting as) Washington offered the motion to move forward with the electoral board’s request, with the Mary Ann Smith Cultural Center as the proposed new site and the center’s library as an alternate. The motion was seconded and carried on a vote of the board (all in favor; no opposed votes were recorded).

Board members and staff repeatedly urged careful outreach. Supervisor Parks and others said the county should try to remedy fixable issues at Matomkin — including working with the school division on lighting and access — before making a permanent relocation, and asked staff to explore options such as providing county phones for poll chiefs to reduce reliance on private devices.

What the electoral board asked for and next steps The electoral board asked that supervisors authorize staff to schedule the required public hearing at Matomkin Elementary (the boardroom noted Metompkin/Matomkin spellings in packet) so members of the public can testify. If the board confirms the hearing, staff will handle the required public advertisements and follow the state’s review procedures. The electoral board and county staff will further investigate phone, lighting and parking solutions during the public comment period.

The request and the board’s vote were part of the public‑comment and report of public officials portion of the March 19 meeting. No final relocation was approved at the meeting; any permanent change will follow the advertised hearing, public comment, and the state’s procedural review.

Ending: The county administrator and electoral board said they will return with the advertised hearing and additional information; supervisors instructed staff to coordinate notice and to report back on technical fixes (phone options, lighting and parking) while the hearing process proceeds.