NAACP confronts city election board over accessibility to Farm Bureau polling location

GALESBURG — Galesburg’s branch of the NAACP is requesting the Galesburg Election Commission look into changing the location of one of its polling places.

Brittany Grimes, president of NAACP Galesburg, said she is concerned that the polling place for voters in Precincts 5 and 6 — the Knox County Farm Bureau, 180 S. Soangetaha Rd. — is largely inaccessible to people who do not have access to a car.

Grimes said that reaching the Knox County Farm Bureau from the south side of the city can take an hour by public transit and is a “safety hazard” to reach by foot due to a lack of sidewalks and having to cross the I-74 underpass.

“The NAACP, we're looking at the costs for people to vote," Grimes said. “An economic lost-cost of going to vote if I use public transportation is two hours. At $15 an hour, if I'm being paid $15 an hour, I have to give that up. That's $30. I'm pretty sure you know gas prices right now are at $5 dollars and that's if I drive. If I don't do that, if I don't drive, that's potentially groceries for my family, or at least two people in my family.”

“So if people are really trying to work, to put their nose to the grindstone, but have to submit to that economic cost, that's a bit of a problem,” she said.

Grimes, who has been president of NAACP Galesburg since 2019, said that one of the main goals of the branch’s nonpartisan political action committee is increasing eligible-voter turnout and reducing the barriers for eligible people to vote.

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Changes to election precincts

Grimes said that NAACP Galesburg started looking at the accessibility of the city’s polling places around the time the 2020 Census altered the shape of the city’s election precincts.

But Grimes also said that NAACP Galesburg would have begun looking at the accessibility of the city’s polling places regardless of the recent census now that the branch’s political action committee is no longer stalled by the pandemic.

Galesburg’s Board of Election Commissioners is required to change the boundaries of election precincts after each 10-year Census following congressional and legislative redistricting because each precinct is required, by statute, to contain as close to 1,200 registered voters as possible.

Due to decreases in Galesburg’s population from 2010 to 2020, the Galesburg Board of Election Commissioners reduced the total number of the city’s election precincts from 21 to 20 and finalized the new, altered boundaries of each remaining precinct on Jan 6, 2022.

The location of several polling places within the election precincts then changed from where they were in 2021 to where they are now in 2022.

For example, Northwoods Community Church, 940 W. Fremont St., is no longer a polling location after Galesburg Education District 205 bought the property in 2021. Precincts 16 and 18, who used the location as a polling place in 2021, then moved to Bethel Baptist Church-Learning Center and Grace Anglican Church-Thrift Store, respectively.

The United Way of Knox County, 1215 Monmouth Blvd, was also added as a new polling location and is now the polling place for Precinct 10.

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Farm Bureau a polling location since 2006

Robert Potter, one of the three members of Galesburg’s Board of Election Commissioners, said that despite various changes to the geographical size of precincts and location of several polling places, the board did not institute a change that would have significantly impacted the voters in Precinct 5 and 6 who vote at the Knox County Farm Bureau.

In 2021, Precincts 5, 6 and 7 all voted at the Knox County Farm Bureau. Currently in 2022, only Precincts 5 and 6 vote at the Farm Bureau.

"The folks who are voting at the Farm Bureau would have historically been voting at the Farm Bureau," Potter said. "We didn't move anybody to voting at the farm bureau. Actually, there's probably less people voting at the Farm Bureau now than there were previously."

Lisa Watson, executive director for the Board of Election Commissioners, said that the Knox County Farm Bureau has been a polling location since November 2006.

As of July 7, 2022, there are a total of 921 registered voters in Precinct 5, 1,007 registered voters in Precinct 6 and 589 registered voters in Precinct 7.

On the day of the Nov. 6, 2018, midterm election, there were 648 registered voters in Precinct 5, 579 registered voters in Precinct 6 and 853 registered voters in Precinct 7.

Some 10.4% of voters in Precinct 5 voted on the day of the recent June 28, 2022, primary election. 9.5% of voters in Precinct 6 voted on the day of the 2022 primary election and % 15.2% of voters in Precinct 7 voted on the day of the 2022 primary election.

In comparison, 36.7% of voters in Precinct 5 voted on the day of the 2018 midterm election, 40.1% of voters in Precinct 6 voted on the day the 2018 midterm election and 43.5% of voters in Precinct 7 voted on the day of the 2018 midterm election.

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Polling place requirements are 'vague'

Potter said that he does not anticipate the board taking any further action on polling place locations before the upcoming Nov. 8 general election.

Though, speaking for himself and not the whole board, Potter said that he does not know why he would say “never” to the idea of changing a polling location after the Nov. 8 election in order to improve. He said that the board is often looking at potential new locations for polling places.

Besides survey information that is provided by the Illinois Attorney General’s office, Potter said that the requirements that define where a polling place can and cannot be are “very vague.” As a result, it is up to the judgment of the three board commissioners on what makes a location best for a polling place.

Potter said that the board looks at whether a location is up to code with the American Disabilities Act, whether it has enough parking for election judges and voters, whether it has a clean and heated interior and whether the location can provide a degree of “loyalty” or “continuity” to remain a polling place.

Potter said that whether a polling place is walkable is not “as big of a factor” to him as these other conditions.

Difficult to quantify how many would walk to polls

"I think it is speculative to think about who might be walking and might not be walking,” Potter said. “I understand that there are certain people that think there are people not voting because they can't walk to the Farm Bureau. I understand what they're saying there. I don't know how we would ever measure that. I don't know how I measure what doesn't happen.”

Potter said that the Galesburg Tourism & Visitors Bureau, 2163 E Main St., was also floated as a possible , alternative polling place location to the Knox County Farm Bureau. But Potter said that he would not know how to measure whether the Tourism & Visitors Bureau is more or less walkable than the Farm Bureau.

Potter also said that, in his opinion, there has not been an easier time to vote than right now as registered voters can request ballots by mail and go to Galesburg City Hall within 40 days before or the day of the election to vote.

“Disappointment” after public meeting

Grimes said that she understands it is not feasible to change one of the city’s polling locations before the Nov. 8 election and respects the board’s focus on polling place continuity.

But after attending a public meeting with the Board of Election Commissioners on June 7 — which she attended with six other members of the NAACP Galesburg to raise their concerns — Grimes said she walked away feeling disappointed that the commissioners were not trying to further the conversation on changing the Knox County Farm Bureau polling location.

Grimes said that even if parking for voters and election judges is key and polling places are not required to be walkable, the board should still consider how to improve access to a polling place and make it as  “equitable” for those without private transportation.

Grimes also said she doesn’t see why the board could not request resources from the city government to define or improve the walkability of a location. In regards to mail-in voting, Grimes said people of lower socio-economic status do not tend to vote early.

Moving forward, Grimes said that NAACP Galesburg plans to look at possible locations that would fit the board’s requirements for a polling place and advocate for them at future Board of Election Commissioners' meetings.

The next meeting is scheduled for July 19.

This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: NAACP Galesburg IL wants polling place change due to inaccessibility