Residents, civic groups urge legislature to keep Board of Elections downtown, cite access and legal concerns

During the public-comment portion of the Tompkins County Legislature meeting, more than a dozen members of the public and representatives of civic groups urged the body to keep the Board of Elections' main site in downtown Ithaca. The most frequent concerns were lack of public transit to the proposed Dutch Mill Road site, limited sidewalks and parking, and a perceived loss of symbolic and practical access to a county seat location.

Raveau Root of Citizen Action of New York told the legislature, "New York law says that the board of elections cannot be removed from the city or village where it's located without a vote by the people." League of Women Voters representative Sally Grubb and others highlighted that many services the board provides—poll-worker training, ballot pickups and in-person help—require an accessible downtown location.

Legislators and administration responded in the meeting. The chair read a press release and told the room, "we will not be moving the board of elections outside of the city of Ithaca," and Legislator Mike Sigler noted the committee had examined legality and said, "to move the board of elections temporarily would be legal." Those remarks did not resolve all public concerns; speakers continued to press for clarity, alternate interim sites that are transit served (the Ithaca Mall was suggested repeatedly), and explicit criteria for which departments might be moved.

What comes next: Administration and the legislature amended the acquisition resolution to explicitly exclude the Board of Elections from moves to 31 Dutch Mill Road and pledged a public follow-up showing which departments, if any, would move and how access concerns would be addressed.