Voting Centers Approved for Smith County

TYLER — Smith County has received approval from the state to go forward with voting centers for the upcoming November Election. According to a county news release, voting centers are basically an early-voting concept on Election Day, allowing residents to vote at any polling place without being restricted to their precinct. For several months, county Elections Administrator Karen Nelson worked with an advisory committee to put the project in place.

Smith County had 49 Election Day polling locations for the 2012 General Election and 42 polling locations in the 2014 General Election. Voting centers could allow the county to reduce that to the minimum 32 polling locations, according to officials. Smith County has 34 proposed polling locations to submit to the state. Nelson said she wants to use the voting centers this November because it is a smaller election, which she says would allow for any issues to be worked out before the larger 2016 election.

Commissioner Terry Phillips said he brought the idea to Mrs. Nelson after learning about the concept at a commissioners’ conference. Phillips cited voter convenience and the ability to save the county money. The county Elections Department will now have to submit an election report detailing the November Election results by Dec. 3. If the state designates that the election was “successful” using the new voting centers, the county may continue to use the program for subsequent elections. By the way, Nelson was honored Tuesday with the Making Democracy Work Award from the Smith County League of Women Voters, which cited her work on the voting centers.