By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Paris, Tenn.–At a busy special session Monday evening, the Henry County Elections Board unanimously approved a plan to consolidate two voting districts as part of the overall move to Voting Centers by the 2024 election.
The Voting Center proposal has evolved over the last couple of years, and has included a public input meeting and a checklist of items that needed to be completed before it could move forward.
Under the plan, in District 4, the voting sites of Grove School and the Central Services Building will be merged to one voting center at Grove and in District 5, the voting sites of Henry County High School and TCAT will be merged to vote at TCAT. In other words, the Central Services and HCHS sites will be closed.
But, under the Voting Center plan, voters can cast their ballots at any Voting Center that will be set up in the county.
At the meeting’s outset, Henry County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Griffey urged the elections commission to vote no on voting centers. He said, “All the Republicans I’ve taled to do not want the voting centers and I urge you to vote against it.” He said, “In my opinion, most voters are more concerned with integrity than convenience. They prefer less technology than more.”
At the December meeting, the elections commission had already voted to proceed with the Voting Center proposal.
Under the current proposal, Voting Centers would replace the initial 13 precincts in the county. All of the voting centers will be secure, all will be ‘hard-wired’, with both internet and WiFi, all will be ADA accessible and have adequate parking.
And, voters will be able to vote at any vote center in the county on Election Day.
Elections Administrator DeLaina Green noted that neither the Central Services building or HCHS provided the proper requirements for Voting Centers. For instance, she said, the Central Services building cannot be hard-wired, which is a requirement.
She said since the proposal was floated, there has been “no push back” from the public. She said, “Most seem to be in favor of it, especially being able to vote at any of the voting centers, because everyone is on the go these days.”
Green will make a presentation on the Voting Center proposal to the Henry County Commission February 21. Green said she has already spoken to 13 of the 15 commissioners individually and presented the plan to them. “Verbally, they’ve been supportive,” she said.
Elections Commission member Art Smith said the only concern he has heard is from people in the lake area who did not want to travel to Puryear to vote. Green said one of the Voting Centers will be set up at the Paris Landing Senior Center and voters are “thrilled” with that plan.
Smith said, “What we are doing is an improvement for voters. It’s not taking anything away from them.”
Commission member Randy Geiger thanked Green for her hard work in developing the proposal. She thanked him and said, “I’m so glad we started on this process as long ago as we did. Other counties are just now starting and I’m not sure they can have voting centers by 2024.”
Photo: Elections Administrator DeLaina Green displays the plans for consolidating two districts under the new Voting Center proposal. (Shannon McFarlin photo).