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Marshall County voters in certain parts of the county may find it easier to turn out and vote in future elections, as two polling places that had been eliminated were restored by the county commission Tuesday morning.
County Clerk Melanie Madden approached the commission Tuesday morning, saying that polling locations had been mostly centered around local schools, and those voting precincts had then been adjusted in 2021 during redistricting. The combined effect, Madden said, was that some communities had been left without easy access to polling places in remote parts of the county.
"Because so much of (Marshall County) is rural, it has placed a hardship on some of our residents to travel to their current polling place," she said. "… We don't want to disenfranchise voters in these areas, and a lot of elderly residents don't like to make the drive."
Commissioners Scott Varner and Mike Ferro unanimously agreed with Madden's request, moving to reinstate polling locations in the Marwin area, near Big Wheeling Creek, and in the Mt. Hope area, east of New Vrindaban and north of Cameron. Commissioner John Gruzinskas did not attend Wednesday's meeting due to a minor illness.
Madden said several other voting precincts lacked easy and convenient access to nearby polling locations, such as St. Joseph's Settlement, but that the county's hands were tied at the present moment. Instead, she urged residents to take advantage of early or absentee voting opportunities.
"A lot of them, if they're of the older generation, qualify for absentee ballots. Some of them like to go to the polls, I understand they've done that their whole lives, but we're just trying to help everyone," Madden said. "We still want to use the schools, and I'm hoping superintendent (Shelby) Haines will still approve that for us, but we just want to reach out a little at a time to help those residents that are suffering from the travel time."
The restoration of the polling places was approved Tuesday and will go into effect before polls open in November.