Chatham County approves new polling location in Pooler
Pooler’s YMCA was recently approved as a polling location by the Chatham County Board of Elections. It will be available to residents of Precinct 8-16 to use instead of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force for the upcoming elections.
The need for another polling location stems from the rapid growth of the Pooler area, and the need to diminish wait times at the current locations of the Pooler Recreational Center, First Baptist Church, Rothwell, West Chatham Baptist and now, the YMCA, which was approved on Aug. 14.
According to Pooler City Councilmember Karen Williams, she found and recommended the Mighty Eighth as a polling place a few years ago, and then found the YMCA to replace it and recommended it to the Board of Registrars.
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“With the growth that we’re experiencing and the future growth with Hyundai and all the other workforce coming, I want to be proactive, not reactive. I want to have these places approved so my residents don’t have to wait in long lines,” Williams said.
In order for a polling place to receive approval, the Board of Registrars must inspect the facility. The facility also must be willing to be a polling place, and after it’s approved to be a polling location, the Board of Elections takes a vote.
“People who lived in precinct 8-16 had to drive quite far to get to the Mighty Eighth but now this polling location will be closer to where those residents live,” Williams said. People who live in Precinct 8-16 have homes located between Pooler Parkway and Crystal Lake Drive.
To be approved as a polling location, buildings must be ADA-compliant, have ample space and parking, enough outlets for election equipment and bathrooms, said Elections Supervisor Brent Wooten.
“We found all of that to be the case with the YMCA and it will be a great location for the poll,” Wooten said.
The Board of Elections is looking to add a sixth precinct in Pooler by the Presidential Preferential Primary in March 2024, Wooten said. This precinct would have the Mighty Eighth added back as a polling location.
“We’re actually looking at several new precincts,” Wooten said. “For example, the growth from Bloomingdale westward, which encompasses the new Hampstead area, we’re looking at the possibility that we’re going to have another precinct there, probably a Savannah precinct.”
New precincts are added when the growth of an area leads to long lines and wait times.
“The state is interested in: Are there lines and are people having to wait a long time?” Wooten said. “And if they are, the state wants us to have no more than 2,000 people registered in that particular precinct. As long as we’re not having long lines on election day, then we don’t need to establish any additional precincts. But if you are, that’s when you would have to draw new precincts and new lines.”
Wooten said the goal date of having another Pooler precinct in March 2024 may be ambitious due to the special election next month, then the municipal elections and the potential of run-offs for both, but it is their goal.
Destini Ambus is the general assignment reporter covering Chatham County municipalities for Savannah Morning News. You can reach her at dambus@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Chatham County approves new polling location at YMCA Pooler
