New polling places for Marblehead

MARBLEHEAD – The majority of Marblehead?s voters will be casting their ballots somewhere new in the June 14 special election.Selectmen have approved a new polling location plan in which Precincts 1, 2 and 3 will vote at the Masonic Hall at 62 Pleasant St. Precincts 4, 5, 6 and 7 will be voting at the Marblehead Community Center.In the town elections this month, Precincts 2, 3 and 4 voted at Star of the Sea Community Center on Atlantic Avenue. Precinct 1, which traditionally voted at the Old Town House, voted at the Marblehead Community Center.Town Clerk Robin Michaud told selectmen the Star of the Sea Community Center is unavailable June 14 due to construction, and a state inspector has expressed reservations about that building, requiring her to keep the doors open to insure handicapped accessibility.?I have to pin the doors open,” she said. “It?s a burden for Star of the Sea (Church), they have to pay fuel costs when they keep the community center doors open in winter.”A state inspector approved the Masonic Hall “overwhelmingly” after an inspection, Michaud said, noting that the building has 50 parking spaces and easy accessibility.Selectman Judy Jacobi questioned how long the change would last, however, reminding her colleagues that the June 14 debt exclusion overrides include funding to make the Old Town House handicapped accessible and restore that building as a polling place.Selectman James Nye suggested taking the change “one election at a time.”Michaud explained that idea would be expensive. Mailings cost her $500 per precinct to notify voters of a change in their polling place. She suggested adding the phrase “until further notice” to the notifications she mails out for this change.Jacobi told her that she feared this change could lead “to no more voting at the Old Town House.”?We control where Precinct 1 votes,” Selectman Harry Christensen reminded her. “If the Old Town House becomes compliant (with state rules) would we say no?”