The Mineola Board of Education reached a consensus at last Thursday night’s meeting to reduce the number of polling places for the school district election in May to two locations – the Jackson Avenue and Meadow Drive schools.
The board’s move to consolidate polling places anticipates the use of electronic voting machines in 2015, which will be more costly than the lever machines that are still in use.
Board trustees agreed that there should be polling places in the northern and southern sectors of the school district to accommodate voters.
Board President Will Hornberger and Christine Napolitano said they favored the Hampton Street School because parking would be easier there than at Jackson Avenue.
But Mineola Superintendent of Schools Michael Nagler said most voters in the district vote at Jackson Avenue.
“We may want to try it at Jackson and see how it goes,” Nagler said
He said putting the polling place at the Hampton Street School would cause confusion among voters with the switch to two locations.
“There’s going to be confusion in any case,” Napolitano said.
Board Vice President Terence Hale said the two locations should be Meadow Drive and either the Jackson Avenue School or Hampton Street School.
Trustee Artie Barnett said he favored Jackson Avenue because it’s a “central” location and currently draws 1,000 of the approximately 2,500 voters that turn out for school district elections.
That viewpoint ultimately prevailed in the discussion, as Nagler said parking would be problematic at any location in the southern end of the district. But he noted that most voters go to the polls after schools are closed.
“We don’t have extra parking anywhere,” Nagler said.
Barnett and Hale had previously expressed support for a single polling place, but Napolitano said two polling places were needed because of the district’s geography, which includes Mineola and Garden City Park in the south and Williston Park, Albertson and Roslyn Heights in the north.
At last Thursday night’ meeting, Nagler suggested the respective villages should define the polling location, with Mineola and Garden City Park residents voting at Jackson Avenue and Williston Park, Albertson and Roslyn Heights residents voting at Meadow Drive.
“This should clarify it and make it pretty simple,” Barnett said.
Last year the total cost of the school district election was $7,000, according to Nagler.
With the use of the electronic voting machines, Barnett said the board would be obliged to spend approximately $10,000 on paper ballots used for the electronic machines, at 50 cents per ballot for approximately 20,000 voters in the school district.
Reach reporter Richard Tedesco by e-mail at rtedesco@theislandnow.com or by phone at 516.307.1045 x204. Also follow us on Twitter @theislandnow1 and Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.
