Millard parents start petition to end public voting in schools

[Omaha Steve]

Millard schools are located in Omaha.

http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/millard-parents-start-petition-to-end-public-voting-in-schools/article_5156a431-56ef-51d1-8824-aae05fd2f832.html

POSTED: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2015 12:30 AM | UPDATED: 12:52 AM, MON SEP 28, 2015.
By Joe Dejka / World-Herald staff writer

Some Millard parents believe their kids are at risk on Election Day.

The parents have started a petition to stop using their school as a polling site in Douglas County.

It makes no sense, they say, that Millard Public Schools recently spent millions of dollars on door locks and buzz-in video systems to secure schools throughout the year only to open the doors to strangers on Election Day.

“The school is opened up to any and all comers,” Louise Flaugh told the Millard school board last week. “Isn’t this a major inconsistency that needs to be addressed?”

FULL story at link.

[KamaAina]

1. Aren't the schools closed on Election Day?

They are everywhere else I've ever heard of that uses schools as polling places.

[ScreamingMeemie]

2. They never were in Michigan, and they aren't here in Houston.

Voted at a school in Saint Clair Shores, MI, that stayed open for classes (we voted in the gym) and vote in an elementary school here. The gym here in Texas is a separate building, so it's not as disruptive.

[Omaha Steve]

3. They are not in Millard, Omaha, Dist 66, or Bellevue

I doubt the rest of the state does either.

[surrealAmerican]

4. They don't do that here ...

... (in Illinois).

That said, it's not much of a security risk. The voters are only allowed in parts of the school that the students do not use that day.

[Igel]

5. It varies a lot.

In Rochester, NY, it was in a side room of the school cafeteria. Go though the unlocked but closed doors and there are the kids--elementary, I think--eating lunch or doing some activity.

In Houston, there's not always a handy unlocked door between the kids and the school visitors. Somebody--a jilted lover, a homicidal lunatic, or just a kid from a rival school could easily sneak in to do something not so great.

[kiva]

6. None of the schools I've used as polling places were closed.

And when I was a kid, we had class on election day, voters all entered through a main door and the voting area was nearby...so no, not everywhere.

[WinkyDink]

7. Same in PA.

[struggle4progress]

8. The Millard schools could install temporary metal detectors for voters if they like

I really don't see much upside to publicizing new ideas about what various nut-cases could do

[Nye Bevan]

9. Abolish polling places and have everyone vote by mail.

Problem solved.