Allegany County secures early-voting site, outlines 2026 operations and contingency for Westernport polling place

The Allegany County Board of Elections on Oct. 7 said it has received a signed early-voting memorandum of understanding from the county commissioners, clearing Room 100 at the Allegany County Complex Building for use as an early-voting site.

Administrator (name not specified) told the board the county received the signed MOU and intends to operate early voting at the Kelly Building’s Room 100. The board also confirmed two regular ballot-drop-box locations: the Kelly Building and Mountain Ridge High School. “We did receive that back signed so we can use Room 100 of the Allegany County Complex Building for early voting,” the Administrator said.

The board reviewed several operational preparations for the 2026 election cycle. Staff reported that a poll-book battery test will begin in early October and run about six weeks to evaluate battery life across units. State Board of Elections (SBE) staff and voting vendor Taylor will run an address-data-hygiene exercise in September and again in early 2026 to reduce returned ballots during mass mailings.

Officials also discussed technical and audit changes required for 2026. The Administrator said planning is under way to implement risk-limiting audits for 2026, in coordination with vendor VotingWorks and SBE, and referenced Senate Bill 313 as the legislative context for the change. “We have a work group with SBE to develop the process for the risk-limiting audits and have a smooth transition from the manual tabulation ballot audit to this new risk-limiting audit,” the Administrator said.

Logistics and facilities were a significant focus. Staff reported a warehouse relocation that had been scheduled for October has slipped to a December start; staff requested a Feb. 1 completion date for the work. The board also reviewed polling-place agreements: 27 of 28 agreements have been returned with one outstanding site verbally agreeing but not yet submitting a signed contract.

Westernport Elementary’s remodeling timeline prompted discussion about whether to move that polling place. Staff said the Alleghany County School Board’s operations supervisor believes remodeling should be complete by March, ahead of a June primary, but could not guarantee the date. The board discussed an emergency relocation option — Harmony Baptist Church in Tri Towns Plaza — and directed staff to keep the church as a planned alternate. The Administrator emphasized the legal deadline: under state law, a polling-place change must be made at least 90 days before an election; changes after that point require invoking emergency procedures.

Election-judge recruitment and training remain priorities. Staff reported 219 returning judges (97 Democratic, 110 Republican, 12 unaffiliated) and noted projected staffing needs of about 316 people for an election. The judge manual and step-by-step training materials are in development but had not been posted for board edits as of Oct. 7.

Equipment issues cited by staff included a drop-box flap that can lead voters to think a box is locked; staff said they are developing a prototype to modify the flap. Fire-suppression work was discussed, but staff said they had not identified a vendor and that costs could be prohibitive.

The board set a calendar: the next regular meeting on Nov. 4 and the December meeting on Dec. 2. Staff are scheduling a multi-county tabletop exercise for November, with dates to be finalized.

The meeting concluded with administrative items and adjournment at about 9:50 a.m.