Changes in Augusta polling places to be proposed | The Augusta Chronicle

A busy election year could get a little more hectic with several changes in the works at Richmond County Board of Elections.

The office will unveil today a proposal to change the voting locations of nearly 13 percent of the county’s 109,000 registered voters, Executive Director Lynn Bailey said.

The changes, if approved, will be in effect in time for 2014 elections, when Augustans will choose a new mayor, five school board members and city commissioners and numerous other local and statewide elected officials.

The proposed polling place changes are a continued “tidying up” since 2011 redistricting the board has been working on for months, she said.

“This is not something the board has done on a whim,” she said.

For the first time in nearly 50 years, however, the board isn’t required to seek preclearance from the U.S. Department of Justice for the changes, after the Supreme Court overruled part of the Voting Rights Act in June.

Area voting rights advocates viewed news of the changes with only mild concern.

via Changes in Augusta polling places to be proposed | The Augusta Chronicle.