By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Paris, Tenn.–The Henry County Election Commission will hold an open forum at its June meeting to familiarize the public with the proposal to establish ‘vote centers’ in the county.
The meeting is scheduled for June 7, tentatively set for the County Emergency Management building on Brewer Street.
The proposal to downsize the number of precincts in the county and establish ‘vote centers’ was first presented at the Election Commission’s August 2020 meeting, at which time members authorized Elections Administrator DeLaina Green to pursue it.
At that time, Green said the state is moving toward the concept of ‘vote centers’ to replace precincts. She said in Henry County such a plan would be cost-effective; continuing with 13 precincts is not feasible for several different reasons: not all are secure, not all are ADA accessible and not all have adequate parking. In addition, all the ‘vote centers’ would have to be ‘hard-wired’ with both internet and WiFi.
The proposal is to downsize the 13 precincts to six ‘vote centers’ at Harrelson, Lakewood, Henry School, Grove School, Henry County High School and TCAT. After a presentation by Green, the Henry County Schools board of education unanimously approved allowing the ‘vote centers’ to be located at the schools.
Under the proposal, voters can cast their ballots at any of the vote centers on Election Day—not just at their specific precincts.
The state has already approved seven ‘vote centers’ in Tennessee. Rutherford County was the first, followed by Wilson, Williamson and Monroe Counties. And Green said the state just today approved ‘vote centers’ in Weakley, Sullivan, and Smith Counties.
As proposed, the Henry County ‘vote centers’ would not be operational until 2024, Green said, but in order to achieve that, “We would have to start the process now.”
Commission Member Bennie Akers said the Democratic Party executive committee is opposed to the plan, with “the consolidation issue being the big thing”. Commission Member Sylvia Humphreys agreed with Akers, saying that, “There’s a population of people” who would oppose it “in light of what’s going on in the country with voting laws being changed.” Humphreys also represents the Democratic Party on the commission.
After discussion at the meeting, the Commission’s three Republican Party representatives—Chairman Stephen Goggans and new members Randy Geiger and Art Smith—voiced support for the proposal. Geiger said, “We’re not asking voters to go any further than we ask students to go every day.”
Smith said, “At the end of the day, we want people to know that we’re looking for what’s best for them, not us (commission).”
Green said the state requires commissions to be successful in establishing a satellite site for early voting first before the ‘vote center’ approach can be implemented. Under the satellite concept, there would be two locations for early voting: the Election Commission (where early voting is already held) and TCAT. “We would be doing that for 2021,” Green said. “The state’s reasoning is that if you can’t successfully handle a satellite site for early voting, you wouldn’t be able to handle the vote centers.”
Green said she also still needs approval from the Henry County Commission for the ‘vote center’ proposal and will be making a presentation at one of their future meetings.
Green stressed throughout the meeting that even without the ‘vote center’ approach, having 13 precincts in Henry County is not feasible and the locations would have to be changed. And in terms of finding locations that meet all the requirements (secure facility, ADA accessible, adequate parking and have both internet and Wifi), “We don’t have a lot of choices,” she said.
Photo: From left, Bennie Akers, Sylvia Humphreys, DeLaina Green, Stephen Goggans, Art Smith and Randy Geiger. (Shannon McFarlin photo).