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Registrars propose closing police‑station polling place; council hears plan to move 821 voters to school site
Summary
Registrars recommended closing the polling place at the police station (Precinct 25) and consolidating about 821 voters into Precinct 13 at Westwoods Upper Elementary to improve staffing and reduce election costs; presenters said the change would not affect state legislative ballots and asked the council to follow charter steps to place any district‑change ordinance on a future municipal election ballot.
Town registrars presented a proposal May 12 to consolidate one polling place and close the police station location used by Precinct 25, saying the change would shift roughly 821 active voters into Precinct 13 and move their polling location to Westwoods Upper Elementary School.
Neil Kelsey, deputy registrar, explained the consolidation would move the voters living in the area bounded by Meadow Road (south), Plainville Avenue (west), Red Oak Hill Road (north) and New Britain Avenue (east) and said the registrars view the step as a way to increase staffing efficiency and reduce the cost of running elections. "Our main reasons for bringing this forward... is to increase efficiency in staffing and operations of our voting events and to reduce the cost of running elections for the town," Kelsey said. He estimated potential annual savings between $12,000 and $24,000 in labor and food and said eliminating the police‑station polling site would reduce the need for seven 14‑hour poll worker positions at each voting event.
Kelsey emphasized the change would not alter state legislative ballots for affected voters: "What the people will still be voting for, the House District 21 and 22 like they do today," he said. The registrars noted that any change in voting district boundaries requires a town council ordinance and voter approval at a regular biennial town election in accordance with the town charter; the registrars asked councilors to consider the proposal and noted the goal would be to place the ordinance on the November 2027 municipal election calendar with effect in 2028 (impacting municipal elections in 2029).
Councilors asked procedural questions and requested the registrars provide the packet of maps and statistics to all members. There was no vote on the proposal at the May 12 meeting; registrars left materials for council members to review and indicated they would be available to answer follow‑up questions.
