By Adam Swift
Several City Councilors highlighted issues with voting at polling locations at public schools during the Sept. 19 preliminary election at last week’s council meeting.
Many of the concerns stemmed from a lack of parking spaces at the schools due to a professional development day for Revere educators on that day, according to Ward 3 Councillor Anthony Cogliandro.
However, Election Commissioner Paul Fahey said that those issues should not be as noticeable during the Nov. 7 general election, since there will be no school that day and the district will be hosting professional development online.
Cogliandro noted that Revere relies heavily on the schools for polling locations, and that it can be frustrating for voters if they find it difficult to park.
“At the end of the day, I guess this is all about getting people to come and more comfortably vote,” said Cogliandro. “If people drive by and see a full parking lot, they might not want to stop and they are going to keep driving.”
Councillor-at-Large and mayoral candidate Dan Rizzo said there were issues throughout the day on Sept. 19 with parking at the school polling locations.
“I know people who personally drove in and drove out,” said Rizzo.
Rizzo and Councillor-at-Large Steve Morabito both noted that there were voters who also had issues about where they were supposed to vote once they got to the polling locations.
Fahey stated that for the past several elections since redistricting, voting for Ward 3 has all taken place in the field house at the high school. He said there have been efforts to continue to educate and inform voters about the polling locations, especially in Ward 3.
Councillor-at-Large Anthony Zambuto said the schools and election department did take steps to help with parking during the preliminary election, but added that it shouldn’t have been an issue in the first place.
“We have all the schools people have to vote at one or two days per year, we need to be able to accommodate the voters,” said Zambuto. “Hopefully we have learned from Sept. 19 and move forward.”
Fahey said the election department was not aware of the professional development day at the schools until several days before the election.
“We have a very good collaborative relationship with the school department, and we use the schools for a lot of polling locations,” said Fahey.
He said he spoke with Superintendent of Schools Dr. Dianne Kelly, who stated that the professional development on Nov. 7 will be a virtual event.
