ATHENS, Ohio — Hundreds of Athens County voters will report to new voting locations next week for the May 5 primary election, following changes made by the Athens County Board of Elections in December 2025.
Tony Brooks, the director of the Athens County Board of Elections, told the Independent that the move was done to better account for population distribution.
“We had not adjusted the precincts or polling locations for quite a long time, and due to a lot of population changes and moving and census data, a lot of the polling locations could have been consolidated because of population decline,” Brooks said.
Seven precincts were eliminated overall, most of them in the city of Athens:
- Athens 1-5 was merged into Athens 1-4.
- Athens 2-5 was merged into Athens 2-1.
- Athens 2-3 was merged into Athens 2-2.
- Athens 3-3 was merged into Athens 3-1.
- A portion of Athens East (Richland Fire District) was merged into Athens South. The remaining portion of Athens East (The Plains Fire District) was merged into The Plains 1.
- Millfield and Sugar Creek were combined to become Dover East.
Additionally, several new and existing precincts were moved to new voting locations. Because the former Ohio Means Jobs building is closed, Athens Baker will now vote at the American Legion next door. Athens South will vote at The Dairy Barn, rather than at Beacon School.
“Due to some parking issues that we’ve been having at the Beacon School that we’ve had several voters complain about, we decided to move Athens South to the Dairy Barn,” Brooks said.
The full list of precincts with new voting locations include:
| Precinct | New location |
| Athens 1-1, 1-2 and 1-3 | American Legion, 520 W. Union St., Athens |
| Athens 3-1 | Baker Center, 1 Park Place, Athens |
| Athens 3-2 | Baker Center, 1 Park Place, Athens |
| Athens 3-3, 3-4, and 4-3 | Athens City Fire Department Station 1, 120 E. Stimson Ave., Athens |
| Athens Baker | American Legion, 520 W. Union St., Athens |
| Athens South | The Dairy Barn, 8000 Dairy Lane, Athens |
| Chauncey and Dover East | United Methodist Church, 3 N. Plains Road, The Plains |
Find your polling place on the Athens County Voter Look Up website: Enter your name and the site will show your voting location as well as a sample ballot.
Athens County now has 50 voting precincts and 16 voting locations.
Reducing the number of voting precincts and voting locations will save the county money, Brooks said, by reducing the number of people needed to staff the polls. It’s also a time-saver.
“We also have teams that go set up our polling locations and deliver our equipment,” Brooks said. Fewer polling locations means “less time for them, so that helps us administer the election and make sure that we are secure, making sure everything is at the correct location.”
Another benefit of the changes, Brooks said, is faster reporting of election results.
“It won’t take as long for us to get those reporting data up to the secretary of state’s office,” Brooks said. “You have six less precincts coming into our office to bring the data in for us to get it processed and calculated and sent up to the state.”
Adriane Mohlenkamp, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Athens County, told the Independent that the league encourages voters to double check their voter registration to ensure that they show up at the write voting location.
“We encourage voters to check this information before every election,” Mohlemkamp wrote in an email to the Independent. “This year there were several polling location changes across Athens County and our US Congressional District changed to District 2. There were also changes to Ohio House Districts several years ago and voters can check online to verify if they are in OH House District 94 or 95.”
Editors Note 5/1/2026: Added comment from the League of Women Voters of Athens County.
