Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.Voters in Omaha, take note: The polling site where you have cast ballots for years may be closed in the next election.
In a bid to save money, the number of polling sites in Douglas County will be nearly halved in time for the May 15 primary, said David Phipps, the Douglas County election commissioner.
Phipps acknowledges the closings will require some voters to drive 5 to 7 minutes farther and wait in line a little longer to cast their ballots.
But on the flip side, taxpayers will save about $115,000 for most elections, he said.
He also said the closings make sense in today's environment, when a third of the county's votes are cast either through the mail or in early voting.
Voters will be notified of their new polling sites in postcards to be mailed in late March or April.
Currently there are 352 polling sites in Douglas County. It costs about $230,000 an election for nearly 2,000 people to work at the sites.
Phipps plans to slash the sites to 186 and reduce the number of required poll workers to somewhere between 1,000 and 1,200.
The closings will be felt equally across the city, Phipps said.
Not everyone is happy with the new plan.
Omaha City Council member Ben Gray said it will make it tougher for people in his northeast Omaha district — which he described as one of the city's poorest — to vote. He has heard estimates that nearly one out of five people in north Omaha lacks access to an automobile.
Gray said Phipps should take into consideration the income levels of neighborhoods when closing sites. People in the wealthier areas of the county will have an easier time driving to the new sites than people in north and South Omaha, he said.
"They shouldn't do it across-the-board and just ignore the fact that, in my district alone, nearly 20 percent of the residents don't have transportation," Gray said.
Phipps countered that he could not treat one section of the city differently from another based on income.
"You have to treat everybody equally," Phipps said. "Obviously, I'm not going to do anything that is going to favor the more wealthy parts of town, but I don't think I should do things that's punitive to the wealthier parts of town."
The bulk of the cost savings will come from hiring fewer poll workers.
Phipps typically presides over six countywide elections every four years. The busiest is the presidential election in the fall, when upward of 75 percent of the county's registered voters cast ballots. The lowest is the presidential primary in the spring, when about 20 percent turn out.
But no matter the expected turnout, Phipps needed to hire a minimum number of workers for each site.
Now, with fewer sites, he can reduce the number of poll workers for elections when turnout is expected to be low.
The only elections in which he expects to save no money are November elections in presidential election years. This fall — one of those elections — Phipps plans to hire the same number of poll workers he currently employs, to help process high turnout.
Every other election, however, he expects to save.
The downside for voters could be the wait in line.
But, Phipps maintains, even during the busiest elections, the longest wait should be no more than about 20 minutes.
The system may be imperfect, but in this economy, county officials and others are being urged to save money, Phipps said.
"People may complain, but they also complain they pay too much," he said.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1309, robynn.tysver@owh.com
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