Some schools want to stop serving as voting sites

[Tx4obama]

Some schools want to stop serving as voting sites

GLEN RIDGE, N.J. (AP) -- Some schools want to end their traditional role as polling places because of security concerns since the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, leaving their communities without easy alternatives for voting sites.

A presidential commission has been hearing from election officials across the country worried about schools trying to move balloting out of their buildings. Among them is the Glen Ridge School District, a prosperous community less than 20 miles from Manhattan where the Linden Avenue and Forest Avenue Elementary Schools are now closed to balloting.

The picturesque two-story schoolhouses in quiet neighborhoods had long welcomed residents on Election Day. Now, red signs posted at entrances instruct visitors they must ring the bell and show photo ID to cameras above the doors before they can be buzzed in.

The district strengthened access control last year after administrators, police and an outside security consultant conducted a review in the wake of the December 2012 shooting in Newtown, Conn., and the locked doors also were closed to voters. A gunman had shot his way into the locked Sandy Hook and killed 20 first-graders and six adults in a matter of minutes, so leaving schools open to voters suddenly seemed too risky in Glen Ridge.

-snip-

Full article here: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCHOOLS_VOTING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-01-04-09-12-31

p.s. Article also talks about other states.

[SheilaT]

1. My reaction to this is to ask:

Did that massacre occur on an election day?

[davidpdx]

12. No. But given that the gun thugs like to walk around with their weapons

and threaten people, I can see why the schools would be a little leery. In most communities that is an available place that has been used as it is convenient. The question is whether alternatives exist.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. And again we ask...

What are we becoming?

[TheDebbieDee]

3. I think the security issues are valid since Sandy Hook...

But I would still rather vote in a school than a church!

[Gore1FL]

4. I don't take issue with moving polling away from schools.

My experience as a kid demonstrated how disruptive the lines of voters could be on that day.

I don't believe the security reasons are data-backed--even the article demonstrated locked doors were not a barrier.

[Niceguy1]

5. it doesn't have to be in a school

first voting site was a theater performing kind, and my current one is at a church.

[Lasher]

6. The kids have the day off on election day, right?

Isn't that true in every state? Either I'm missing something or the AP writer is.

[dsc]

8. that would be a no

[TeamPooka]

7. Give the kids the day off. Heck give everyone the day off. nt

[66 dmhlt]

9. Better yet - change voting day to Sunday

[Thor_MN]

10. Saturday. Or a weekday National Holiday - ALL businesses closed.

Sunday has too many religious connotations. Saturday has some as well, but not as much as Sunday.

[Blue_Tires]

11. +1