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Use of schools as polling places questioned

By Amy Fauth afauth@heraldstandard.Com 5 min read
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Schools with ample parking, handicapped-accessible entrances and exits and capacity to hold large crowds have always made popular polling places. In fact, Pennsylvania’s election code even mentions “schoolhouses” by name directing county election bureaus to use them whenever “possible and practical.”

However, school officials and parents are starting to question the use of schools as polling places due to security and safety concerns.

At a recent Connellsville Area school board meeting, Marsha Miller, a concerned parent, addressed the board about the use of Bullskin Township Elementary School as a polling place.

While anyone who enters the school on any other day must go through proper security measures, she said those procedures are not always followed on Election Day. She added that teachers, parents and school volunteers are required to obtain clearances to work with and be around students, but volunteers who work at the polls and voters don’t have to have any clearances. She is particularly concerned because they can use the same restrooms that the children do.

“An open voting station brings undue risk to everyone inside the elementary school,” Miller said during the public comment portion of the meeting.

In addition to the risks, voting upsets the students’ daily routines and causes gym classes to be canceled to accommodate the election, according to Miller.

She urged the school board to either request the county move the polling place to another facility or cancel school that day to protect the children.

School board member Kevin Lape said this isn’t the first time the issue has been discussed by the board. Several years ago, the board explored the idea of having the polling place relocated.

“I agree with everything you are saying,” said Lape. “I tried my hardest to try to get it done.”

Ultimately, election officials said canceling school on that day would be the easiest and best solution in this case.

The board said they will look at the 2018-2019 calendar to see if an Act 80 day could be scheduled in coordination with the next Election Day.

“Safety has got to be our number one priority,” said Lape.

Larry Blosser, director of Fayette County Election Bureau, said one of the issues with moving the polling place from Bullskin Township Elementary is the size of the voting precinct – it is one of the largest in the county.

Parking, in particular is a big issue, and Blosser said there isn’t anything else in the precinct that can offer enough parking to solve the problem. The bureau explored the Pleasant Valley Masonic Center, but it was determined not to be big enough. Another suggestion was Pleasant Valley Country Club, but at the time the facility was in the middle of a remodeling project.

“We’ve got to do something. I understand it’s the safety of the kids,” said Blosser.

However, Blosser said to his recollection there hasn’t been a single incident brought to his attention at any of the polling places that are held in schools.

Another consideration, according to Blosser, is much bigger than simply moving one polling location. Due to the number of schools that serve as polling places, Blosser worries that moving one could start a “domino effect” and finding locations to replace the more than a dozen schools that serve as polling places in Fayette County would be nearly impossible.

In Fayette County, other polling places are held in schools in the Uniontown and Laurel Highlands school districts, and the Fayette County Vocational-Technical School in Georges Township.

In Westmoreland County, 18 schools are currently used as polling places.

In Washington County, polling places are held in various buildings the school districts of Ringold and Canon McMillan, according to Washington County Election Bureau director Larry Spahr. A polling place is also located at the career and technical school in Chartiers.

The issue of safety and security has been discussed.

“The school districts have taken exceptional steps to ensure safety,” said Spahr. “Some schools have talked to us about it, especially in today’s world of outrageous acts. We’ve definitely discussed it.”

Spahr said steps to ensure safety have included the hiring of peace officers to patrol and having designated separate areas in schools for voting. Closing of the school is also an option that could be entertained.

Greene County only has one polling place in a school, and according to Tina Kiger, director of the office of elections for the county, it is in a private school and school is not in session that day.

According to a representative from the National School Safety Center, the important thing for schools to do is to adequately prepare for the influx of visitors if they serve as polling places.

“The question for schools would be whether their polling place that they use for elections does provide a degree of adequate separation or security so that school can continue to go on safely without disrupting the educational process,” said Ronald Stephens, executive director of the National School Safety Center, an advocate for safe, secure and peaceful schools.

“It’s important that they have adequate provisions in place to address the issue of increased activity around the school,” he said. “It would be important to have additional formal supervision around the school, whether that’s campus supervisors or if they have a school resource officer on campus, just monitoring what’s there.”

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