DeKalb board considers wide polling-place consolidations, seeks public input and ADA proof

DeKalb County's Board of Registration and Elections on Jan. 9 reviewed a proposal to consolidate polling places at underused or inaccessible sites and to redraw a handful of precinct boundaries.

Director Smith told the board the effort is intended to "optimize polling locations" and stressed that "equity and accessibility are at the heart of this initiative," saying staff seeks to reassign affected voters to nearby locations "that can accommodate them seamlessly without adding significant travel burdens." The director also provided county registration totals: 592,783 registered voters, 502,606 active and 9,177 inactive as of Jan. 9.

The proposal in the packet includes three categories of changes: a table of 19 precincts proposed to be combined at the polling-place level, a table of four re-combinations of already-combined precincts to bring voters closer to polling sites, and six actual precinct-boundary…