Daniel Prince
Buffalo/East Buffalo and Monarch Box 1/Box 2 will combine precincts
Union County Elections Director Darlene Pettit informed WBCU News of some precinct changes in Union County. These are not temporary changes but will be permanent. The number of precincts in the county will shrink by 2, from 23 to 21. The reason is that the two precincts in Monarch and in Buffalo will each be combined. Monarch Box 1 and Monarch Box 2 will be combined into a single precinct. Those who normally voted at Monarch Elementary or Monarch Fire Department will be voting at Bethel United Methodist Church. Buffalo Box 1 and East Buffalo precincts are also being combined, so those who used to vote at Buffalo Elementary School will be voting at the Buffalo Fire Department, which was the normal polling place for those in Buffalo Box 1. Other changes include those in Ward 1 Box 1, who will no longer vote at Foster Park Elementary School. Instead, Ward 1 Box 1 voters will vote at Lakeside Baptist Church. The West Springs precinct polling place has changed as well, moving from the Community Center to West Springs Baptist Church. In all of these cases, signs will be posted at the former polling places to inform voters of the change and the new location of the polling place. Pettit said they had to move precincts out of schools because during the pandemic, access to the schools was greatly limited. For the November special election, those polling places were moved from schools to other places, and now those changes have been made permanent. In the case of the Monarch and Buffalo precinct combinations, Pettit said they were smaller precincts to begin with, only having a few hundred voters in each, and combining them was more efficient for staffing purposes.
The next election to be held is on Tuesday, April 19, as voters will be deciding on the Republican and Democratic candidates for the County Council District 5 seat. The Democratic primary features James Rainwater and Carolyn Rutherford, and the Republican primary features Tamiann Adams and Gerald Eaves. Those who are part of County Council District 5 are encouraged to come out and vote. County Council District 5 is comprised of voters from the Excelsior, Monarch, Ward 1 Box 1, Ward 1 Box 2, Ward 2, Ward 3, and Ward 4 precincts. Pettit noted that just because you may vote at those precincts does not necessarily mean you are part of District 5. Check your voter registration card to see which County Council district you are in. If you have questions, you can look it up online through scvotes.org, or you can call the Election Commission office at 429-1616. Absentee voting is going on now at the Union County Elections Office in the former Union Chrysler building at 1246 South Duncan Bypass.