Cuts in precincts add to voter lines (Ohio)..

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Posted on Sat, Dec. 11, 2004

Akron hit hardest by Summit elections board's reductions in polling sites

By David Knox, Carl Chancellor and Kymberli Hagelberg

Beacon Journal staff writers

Since the 2000 presidential election, the Summit County Board of Elections has eliminated 149 of its precincts -- more than any other Ohio county.

Why did Summit get rid of so many precincts -- nearly a quarter of the 624 it had in 2000?

Although the two Democrats on the board remember it differently, the answer given by Republicans, when the decision was made three years ago, was simple: to save money by reducing the need for increasingly hard-to-find poll workers.

The Republicans say they were betting that precincts could be consolidated without inconveniencing voters, thanks to more efficient electronic-voting machines that were expected to replace punch-card machines before this year's presidential election.

That gamble was lost when the statewide switchover in voting methods stalled amid fears that the new machines needed more safeguards against vote tampering.

It's debatable whether new machines would have made a difference. What's certain is there were long lines at many polling places in the county on Election Day.

``We had lines and waits everywhere in the morning, mainly between 6:30 a.m. and 9 a.m.,'' said county elections Director Bryan C. Williams. ``The longest wait reported to me was 95 minutes.''

Several election watchdog groups reported longer delays -- as long as three hours -- in Akron, especially in the city's predominantly African-American wards. The reduction in precincts hit Akron harder than the rest of the county, with the city losing 81 of 234 precincts -- more than a third.

Williams acknowledged that having fewer precincts, coupled with ``the unprecedented voter-registration effort'' and an unusually high turnout, made for a flood of inexperienced voters swamping poll workers.

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http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/local/states/ohio/counties/stark_county/10393379.htm