SAUGUS — More than 7,000 Saugus voters may cast their ballots in a different location come September.
According to town clerk Ellen Schena, Saugus is in the process of relocating four of the district’s 10 voting precincts to the town’s new middle-high school for the upcoming September 1 and November 3 elections.
There are multiple reasons for the proposed change, Schena said.
As of now, two precincts — four and eight — are currently located in the Belmonte Middle School, which will be closed for construction throughout the fall, and precinct three is currently located in Chestnut Woods Nursing and Rehabilitation center — one of the Saugus nursing homes hardest-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Due to the current situation (regarding the coronavirus pandemic), I don’t feel comfortable having people going into a nursing home for September and November’s elections,” Schena said. “I definitely do not want to put anyone in that situation, and I don’t think any of the voters would want to go in there either.”
In addition, precinct one, located at the American Legion on Taylor Street, was found to be too small, following a recent audit by the state.
“It was brought to my attention that they felt that the American Legion post is too small to accommodate the amount of people in that precinct to vote,” Schena said. “When I started in 2014, we had just under 14,000 Saugus voters. As of May 1st, I believe it’s 19,252, so we’ve grown by over 5,000 people in the six-plus years that I’ve been here.”
Saugus School Committee formally voted last week to allow the precincts to be moved to the new middle-high school.
Their approval means the town’s next step will be to bring the temporary proposal before the Board of Selectmen. Once it’s approved by the board, the state will be informed, giving the town permission to notify residents.
“Everyone has to sign off on it before it can happen,” said school committee vice chair Ryan Fisher.
Registered Saugus voters, 7,329 in total, will receive mailed notices about their new polling stations should the proposed changes become finalized.
Schena emphasized that the middle-high school will have more than enough space to accommodate all four precincts at once.
“The gymnasium is incredibly big, and (we) usually have two (precincts) at the Belmonte and two at the Vets’ gymnasium,” she said. “The middle-high school complex gymnasium is unbelievably bigger than these, so having four shouldn’t be an issue.”
