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School board debates hosting early voting at schools, weighing safety and access
Summary
Board members reviewed ethics expectations and then debated whether the district should host early voting at school facilities; members cited safety and logistical lock-down requirements versus accessibility for student and community voters and asked the superintendent to consult the county clerk for options.
Board members conducted a brief ethics review and then discussed whether the district should host early voting in school facilities after the district moved an early-voting site to the middle school last year.
The session’s Chair opened the polling-site discussion and said he would consult county clerk Lisa Lofgren about possible alternatives. A board member who had voted at the middle school said she preferred not to host early voting in a building full of students and staff and suggested using a site without regular student traffic.
One member reviewed legal history, saying the practice of using schools, fire stations and churches for voting dates to the mid-1980s and was updated in the late 1990s, but argued that contemporary safety concerns make hosting at active school sites more complicated than it once was. “When we know better, we do better and I don’t … want us to open ourselves up for that,” the member said when describing the safety trade-offs.
Options discussed included shifting Election Day to a day off by changing the district calendar (for example moving Presidents’ Day) so school buildings would not be in session; that approach would be a calendar decision (the chair said it likely wouldn’t be recommended imminently and suggested such a calendar change would be feasible in a later year, such as 2028–29). The Chair volunteered to contact the county clerk for guidance on lock-down requirements and whether alternate hours or sites could meet both safety and accessibility goals.
Staff warned that being an early-voting site imposes strict logistics: the site area must be lockable and secure for the entire early-voting period, which eliminates many smaller public buildings in the district and places a burden on facilities used continually for other programs. Board members suggested examining the Peck Center (PEC) and other local venues but noted parking, accessibility and occasional flooding at the PEC parking lot as constraints.
No formal motion or vote was taken. The Chair said he would follow up with the county clerk and the board will revisit the issue once staff and the clerk provide information about feasible sites and any calendar options.
