Growth in North Strabane results in slow-go at the polls
Washington County Elections Director Larry Spahr predicted the possibility of long lines forming at polls within the Route 19 corridor and Cecil Township, but Tuesday, all eyes were on North Strabane Township.
A CNN reporter, cameraman and drone broadcast live reports of the queue that formed at the township building, Precinct No. 1, where the wheels of democracy seemed to be turning ever so slowly.
Earlier this year, the county entered into a $12,000 contract with geodemographic consulting firm BonData, based in Hummelstown, Dauphin County, to determine voter registration by census block and then draw new voting districts using computer software more sophisticated that what was available in the elections office. Increasing North Strabane Township’s six precincts to eight was just one of the topics under discussion.
“It got to be too late by the time they got done with their work and we didn’t want to upset the precincts before the presidential election,” because redistricting in itself could have created confusion, Spahr said. The company’s work was finished in July, he added.
The municipal building wasn’t the only place where lines lengthened. One voter reported waiting about 40 minutes to cast a vote at Wylandville Elementary School at mid-morning, while a lunchtime line formed at Peters A-1 inside the Bible Chapel.
There was only one phone call complaining about the lines, Spahr said Tuesday evening. Attempting to circumvent a slowdown, the county spread 40 extra voting machines in precincts of 1,000 voters or more and also rented a similar number of additional electronic poll books.
Precincts have a 1,200-voter threshold to keep people from waiting in long lines or possibly forsaking their civic duty because they can’t spend an inordinate amount of time in line. The law calls for precincts to contain no more than 1,200 voters, but it also demands tiny boroughs like West Middletown and Coal Center, which each have a population of 139 according to the 2010 U.S. Census, maintain their own polling places.
Growing communities have plenty of homes, but not necessarily community centers that could serve as polling places.
Officials expect to again examine the issue after the presidential election.
In 2004, long lines and waits in Peters Township made headlines in the Bush-Kerry presidential contest. The story was basically the same then as North Strabane now: former farmland had given way to housing developments. Peters kept its number of voting precincts at 12, but in the wake of that presidential election year, Washington County Court approved the redrawing of boundaries to even out the number of voters at each poll.
Because of the large number of voters in line in North Strabane, the poll was expected to remain open until 9 or 9:30 p.m.
Assistant Editor Linda M. Ritzer contributed to this story.