Access to Boone voting site raised as major concern

[struggle4progress]

Posted: Sunday, August 18, 2013 12:00 am
Updated: 12:48 am, Sun Aug 18, 2013.
Bertrand M. Gutierrez
Winston-Salem Journal

... If Blevins wants to cast a ballot, she can no longer use the Plemmons Student Union on campus. The Republican-dominated Watauga County Board of Elections eliminated it last week along with a second voting site, at the county government building, citing the need to ease confusion among voters about where to cast ballots. The two voting sites were folded into a site at the Agricultural Conference Center ...

The newly formed Boone precinct has more than 9,300 voters.

Only two other precincts in North Carolina are larger, according to Bob Hall, the executive director of the elections watchdog group Democracy N.C. One precinct in Onslow County had 10,024 voters, and another in Harnett County had 10,183, as of July 1 ...

The local public bus system — known as AppalCART — does not stop directly in front of the conference center. Even if people took the bus to vote, they’d have to walk on a busy two-lane road with no sidewalk to get to the entrance road of the conference center, they say ...

http://www.journalnow.com/news/state_region/article_9a0bc822-07a6-11e3-ab6f-001a4bcf6878.html

[Tunkamerica]

1. I cast my first vote for president on App's campus. But I don't think we used the student union.

I think it was the building where we rented books. And, I don't even know where the Ag. Conf. Cntr. is. It must be new. But, I looked it up and it's on King street which does have sidewalks... so I don't know what they're talking about. But it's definitely out of the way for students. Not a terrible walk, but as inconvenient as possible while still in downtown.

It's in between two bus stops.

https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!data=!1m4!1m3!1d2001!2d-81.6886389!3d36.2200196!4m25!2m11!1m10!1s0x0%3A0x73f84cc0a42e6568!3m8!1m3!1d206576!2d-78.884911!3d36.0018269!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!5m12!1m11!1sAgricultural+Conference+Center+near+Boone%2C+NC!4m8!1m3!1d206576!2d-78.884911!3d36.0018269!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!17b1

isn't that a sidewalk in the street view?

https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!q=Agricultural+Conference+Center+near+Boone%2C+NC&data=!1m8!1m3!1d3!2d-81.688931!3d36.220808!2m2!1f172.9!2f92.98!4f75!2m4!1e1!2m2!1sxxoJpZGVgfA4j_AcrGiiDg!2e0!4m11!1m10!4m8!1m3!1d206576!2d-78.884911!3d36.0018269!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!17b1&fid=5

also, there's actually a bus at the bus stop in the street view which is half a block away on the sidewalk side.

Still, they moved it off campus to make it inconvenient to vote for students.

[struggle4progress]

2. 252 Poplar Grove Rd

[Tunkamerica]

3. which is parallel to king st.

one side of the building is on poplar grove and the other is on king st. from the pictures the front door and parking lot are on king st.

[struggle4progress]

4. You're looking at two different facilities. The one on King St houses Watauga County Cooperative

Extension, with entrance on King St, where there might be 15 parking spaces

The one on Poplar Grove is the Agricultural Conference Center, with entrance from Poplar Grove, where there might be another 30 parking spaces

I can't tell if the buildings are connected; they might be

Whether or not they are, the facility seems entirely inadequate for the 9300 voters in the precinct, especially as the General Assembly has reduced early voting options. It's entirely possible that the turnover in the small parking lot would need to be 1 to 4 cars per minute for twelve hours on election day

Even on the King St side, bus service isn't particularly satisfactory. Inbound buses have a shelter about a 350 feet walk from the Agricultural Conference Center door, whereas for outbound buses the walk is closer to 800 feet. The situation is worse for buses serving Poplar Grove. Taking the bus to vote during lunch hour won't be an option

[Tunkamerica]

5. Yeah, I was talking about it to one of my friends who went to app too

and it seems to really be about making it inconvenient for students, not for older people. When it was on campus you could vote spur of the moment (besides the long lines) assuming you were registered. Now you have to leave campus, basically have to really want to vote. You won't pass it on the way to class. It's as far as you can get from campus and still be "downtown".

I didn't realize those were two different buildings since that's what google maps gave me when i typed in the Ag Conf. Cntr. Neither of those things existed, to my knowledge, 12 yrs ago when i was there.