As a longtime resident of the Village of Albany I was appalled when I read that the Athens County Board of Elections has moved the polling location for Albany village voters quite a distance away from our village to Christ Community Wesleyan Church. THE ONLY THING THIS DOES IS IT MAKES HARD OR IMPOSSIBLE for some village residents to cast their vote. When it moved to Alexander School that was bad enough, but this move requires travel on the highway that many residents simply won’t be able to do. They certainly cannot walk there. Will the board of elections provide shuttle service for these Albany voters?
I also question the timing of this move with Issue 1 coming up at a special election on August 8. The board should be ashamed that they are creating such a hardship for Albany village voters. Perhaps the state needs to revamp polling location laws making it illegal to assign voting locations outside of the municipality if one exists. Would Athens City voters be happy if they had to drive outside of the city to a location they cannot walk to when casting their vote? Our polling place was at Albany Baptist Church (which is located INSIDE the village) when I moved here in 1995. To our local board, THIS MISTAKE NEEDS CORRECTED ASAP.
Neal Reynolds
Albany, Ohio
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