Brown County Commissioners Court voted on Monday, December 20, to give the Brown County Elections Office approval to allow countywide polling locations. It essentially allows a registered voter to vote at any polling location in the county on election day.
“This is new to Brown County because we’ve always been limited to, for example, if you’re in Precinct 101, you vote at Precinct 101 on election day. With countywide polling locations, if you’re in Precinct 101 and you’re not close to 101, say you’re closer to the general office here, Precinct 202, you can come here and vote your Precinct 101 ballot. Any polling location in the county, you can vote any ballot, all precincts,” said Larry Franks, Brown County Elections Administrator.
“It’s going to make it (voting) more convenient. A lot of counties use the countywide polling locations to reduce the number of polling locations. We’re not. We’re keeping all the polling locations open. It’s just going to make it more convenient for anybody to vote anywhere on election day,” Franks said. The countywide polling system is expected to be utilized during the March 2022 primaries.
There will be a Public Hearing on countywide polling locations during a January County Commissioner’s meeting, either on January 18th or January 24th. The exact date will be announced in the future and placed on a County Commission agenda.
Franks said citizens who have concerns can have those questions answered during the Public Hearing.