Last week, the city council unanimously approved a motion asking that the mayor request the Election Commission put the Lincoln School back online as a polling location beginning in 2027.
However, according to the City Clerk, it was previously determined that the Lincoln School cannot be used as a polling location because it is not ADA compliant. The city council does not have the authority to set polling locations, and the request must go through the Election Commission.
The motion was presented by Councillor-at-Large Michelle Kelley and Ward 3 Councillor Anthony Cogliandro.
“This is something that I have heard from a number of residents in Ward 3 that used to vote at Lincoln School and it was very convenient for them,” said Kelley. “I contacted Councillor Cogliandro, (it) being his ward, and I asked why this change was made, and he said he thought it was something that was done during Covid and the restrictions that were in place during Covid.”
After speaking with Cogliandro, Kelley said they thought it would be a good idea to try to reinstate the Lincoln School as a voting location in the future.
“Of course, it couldn’t be done for this election, but surely for the 2027 election we could bring that election back,” said Kelley. “Seniors, in particular, have a difficult time getting to the high school to vote. Difficult for them even just to make the drive there, to try to find parking there, to walk from the parking lot to the high school, so this would be a much more convenient location.”
Cogliandro thanked Kelley for keeping him in the loop on the issue and the motion.
“I tried to file something on this a couple years back, but it is true that during Covid we did some condensing of the polling locations,” said Cogliandro. “The other thing to take into consideration is that the map changed, specifically wards 3 and 5 did a huge precinct flip, and that’s where the high school came into play. But to Councillor Kelley’s point, there are a lot of seniors, a lot of people who don’t want to cross Broadway to go vote, and I think that this could improve the turnout for the city which has been incredibly low.”
Ward 1 Councillor Joanne McKenna said she has also heard from a number of Ward 3 residents who stated that they do not vote because they won’t go down to the high school.
