Voters take one-time poll place change in stride

LYNN – Liz McNulty did not mind taking her 92-year-old mother and her aunt to vote at City Hall Tuesday, but she would have preferred the convenience of her regular polling place.”I walk them six steps and I am in the gym at North Shore Community College,” McNulty said.McNulty arrived at City Hall worried she would have to drop her mother and aunt in the parking lot, park, then return to escort them into the building.Instead, she found eight parking spots normally reserved for city officials marked with red and white “voter parking” signs.”It was a little more convenient,” she said.She voted in City Hall’s basement health clinic along with 1,595 other Ward 4, Precinct 4 voters. Another 1,383 voters who normally vote at English High School also cast ballots in Tuesday’s special election to choose a new 8th Essex district state representative.The one-time voting location switch minimized the logistics involved in setting up polling places in two locations and moving equipment to the college and English High. The clinic relocated for the day to an adjacent City Hall room to accommodate voters.John Debick and Susan Dobscha took the polling place change in stride although Dobscha said the location change might have kept some voters away from the polls.The city publicized the change with notices mailed to voters’ homes and polling information advertised in The Daily Item.”It wasn’t inconvenient but, in general, people are used to voting at a specific location,” she said, adding that voters, like consumers, “are creatures of habit.”