MONTAGUE – By the annual election in May, voters in precincts three and four may be voting somewhere new – the Great Hall at the Great Falls Discovery Center.
With concerns about voting at Hillcrest Elementary School, Town Clerk Deb Bourbeau said it’s time for the town to explore different options for voting locations.
Bourbeau recently submitted a request to the Department of Conservation and Recreation to request use of the Great Hall for the annual election. It will take about 45 days to get an answer.
Due to concerns about safety, disruption and parking, Bourbeau said her hope is to discontinue using Hillcrest Elementary School unless an emergency election is necessary. “It’s inconvenient to run a school when we’re having voting,” Bourbeau said. “It also puts the school at risk by being open all day long and open to the public. If anything ever happened, I would not be able to live with myself.”
Bourbeau said the town doesn’t have a lot of large spaces to use for voting.
The current precincts and voting locations are as follows.
■Precinct one is the Montague Center Precinct which votes at the Montague Center Fire Station, at 28 Old Sunderland Road.
■Precinct two is the Millers Falls Precinct which votes at the Highland School Apartments Community Room at 446 Millers Falls Road.
■Precinct three is the upper hill section of Turners Falls and Precinct four, the second level of Turners Falls vote at the Hillcrest School Auditorium at 30 Griswold Street.
■Precinct five is the downtown section of Turners Falls which votes at Montague Senior Center at 62 Fifth Street.
■Precinct six is the south end and Montague City precinct which vote at the Public Safety Complex Community Room at 180 Turnpike Road.
Selectboard Chair, Richard Kuklewicz agreed the town needs to explore different options for voting locations.
“We need to realize that times are different,” Kuklewicz said. “I have mixed feeling about it, I think it’s a good opportunity for young people to see the parents and adults voting and the importance they place on that. But there also are unfortunately in this day and age concerns about safety and security and logistics of making it happen that unfortunately outweighs the educational benefits.”
Kuklewicz said applying to use the Great Hall is the first step into a deeper discussion.