By ANDREA POTEET
Sunday Times Newspapers
RIVERVIEW — New polling precincts will take effect in the city for the next election.
A March 21 City Council vote consolidated the six voting precincts and moved the boundaries and voting locations, a move officials estimate will save as much as $1,200 per election.
Precinct 1, which formerly voted at Memorial Elementary School, and Precinct 2, which had voted at Riverview Community High School, now will combine to form Precinct 1, which will vote at the high school.
Precinct 3 will combine with precinct 5, which formerly voted at City Hall, to form the new Precinct 2. Residents of that precinct will vote in the City Hall gymnasium.
Precinct 4 will be Precinct 3 and the voting location will remain Seitz Middle School.
Precinct 6 becomes Precinct 4 and will continue to vote at Forest Elementary School.
The change was suggested by City Clerk Judy Bratcher, who reviewed the number of voters in each precinct.
Her original plan included eliminating all public school voting locations, and restricting voters to the city’s community center and City Hall, but council members were concerned that that plan would not offer polling locations in any other parts of the city.
Other plans included moving voting from Seitz to City Hall, but council members were concerned about the lack of parking at city administration buildings.
Three councilors, Lynn Blanchette, Betty Priskorn and Andrew Swift, voted no on the original resolution, resulting in a deadlock and a discussion of forgoing the vote in favor of further study sessions. After an amended resolution changed one location from City Hall to Seitz, the motion passed unanimously.