SAUGUS — Saugus residents will be heading to new venues when they cast their ballots in the state primary elections in September, after the Board of Selectmen voted on new permanent polling locations for the upcoming election last week.
Precincts 1 and 9 are moving to the Saugus Middle/High School, and Precincts 3 and 5 are moving to the Saugus Senior Center, according to Town Clerk Ellen Schena. Precincts 1 and 3 used to be located at the American Legion Building and the Chestnut Woods Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, respectively.
“Polling locations changed in Saugus due to the 2020 Census; two of the locations were closed permanently due to the size — they weren’t large enough to hold the precinct voter population,” said Schena. “Both rooms that we were using were not large enough,” said Schena.
In Precinct 9, which was Oaklandvale Elementary School, and Precinct 5, which was the Lyndhurst Elementary School, the “schools came offline” and were “no longer used,” said Schena.
“We had to move our precincts out of there,” said Schena.
She said that the town had also considered other locations as possible polling stations, but they did not meet certain state standards.
An election card from the town clerk’s office will be mailed to all Head of Households in Saugus, informing voters of their polling location for the upcoming elections. The residents will also be notified where their precinct is located, because some of the residents have also changed their precincts due to redistricting by the state, Schena said.
The four polling locations that changed were no longer viable to use, and they were changed two years ago on a temporary basis, “until we got through COVID and the census,” Schena said.
The redistricting took place earlier this year, and it finished by March 1. Everything was delayed from the 2020 Census, said Schena, who also said that every ten years after the Federal Census, the state looks up the numbers and does the redistricting or re-precincting.
The list of Saugus polling locations for 2022 is as follows. Precincts 1 and 9 have moved to Saugus Middle/High School at 1 Pearce Memorial Drive. Precincts 2 and 6 are located at Veteran’s School at 39 Hurd Ave. Precincts 3 and 5 have moved to Saugus Senior Center at 466 Central St. Precincts 4 and 8 are located at Belmonte School at 25 Dow St. Precinct 7 is located at the Knight of Columbus at 57 Appleton St. Precinct 10 remains at Italian American Club at 1 Beachview Ave.
Please contact the clerk’s office if you have further questions.
Oksana Kotkina can be reached at [email protected].
