Bulloch County Board of Elections voted unanimously at their regular meeting on Monday, May 8, 2023 to begin the process of moving the Statesboro voting precinct from William James Education Complex to Luetta Moore Park. All three board members, Theresa Jackson, Chair, Jeff Yawn, Secretary and Lawton Sack were in attendence.
Bulloch County Schools Superintendent Charles Wilson had requested that the voting precinct located in the Bulloch County Educational Complex be relocated due to security concerns.
At the April 10, 2023 meeting Shontay Jones, Bulloch County Elections Supervisor made the recommendation that the board approve moving the precinct to Luetta Moore Park.
This was Lawton Sack's first meeting since being appointed by the Bulloch County Commission to serve on the Board of Elections. He requested that they delay the vote until he could meet with Bulloch County Schools Superintendent Charles Wilson and review other possible locations.
Lawton then attended a City Council meeting and requested that the City Council table their vote to relocate as well until he could explore all the options. The City Council voted to delay.
Since the vote to delay there has been a good bit of discussion between local party leaders and local political leaders as to where the best location would be.
After discussions with Superintendent Wilson they considered a couple of other locations on school properties, but determined neither would be adequate. Locations like the Belle House, the County Annex and the Cities Municipal Court facility were also discussed.
After reviewing all of the other options it was determined that the Luetta Moore Park building was the best option.
Election Supervisor Jones told the board at the meeting that her staff and set up a mock election in the Luetta Moore Park building and looked at traffic flow and parking options. They determined that this was the best place to relocate the precinct.
Jones explained that according to State election law they are only required to set up one voting machine per 250 voters. In the 2022 election only 1,100 voted in the Statesboro precinct on election day.
They had 20 voting machines set up to handle that election. She tested setting up the same number at Luetta Moore Park and agreed it could handle that number of machines. She also pointed out a few other positives for moving to that facility including:
- No charge to use the facility
- 82 parking spaces on site
- 34 additional parking spaces across the street
- Covered porch in case of inclimate weather
- large voting area
After Jones presentation the board voted unanimously to begin the process of moving to Luetta Moore Park. This vote authorizes the board to advertise the intent to move the election precinct in the counties legal organ which is the Statesboro Herald. Once advertised the board will vote at the following meeting to approve the move.
City of Statesboro voting to move
The City of Statesboro is currently running public notice in the legal organ again to advertise their intent to move the cities precinct to Luetta Moore Park. This will be voted on at the next city council meeting on Tuesday, May 16 meeting.
The City can move their election precinct and the county, through the board of elections, could choose to move to another location. To decrease confusion it is best to have both City and County elections both held in the same precinct.
