Voting locations changing in Jackson Township
Jackson Township voters will now vote at either the Fruitdale or Jackson Township volunteer fire stations, beginning with the primary on May 8.
Previously, residents of Jackson 3 and Jackson 4 precincts voted at Helmsburg Elementary School. Jackson 1 voters had voted at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church and Jackson 2 residents voted at Faith Full Gospel Church.
Now, Jackson 1 and 2 voters will go to vote at the Fruitdale Volunteer Fire Department, 5200 State Road 135 North in Bean Blossom.
Jackson 3 and 4 voters will go to the Jackson Township Volunteer Fire Department, 4831 Helmsburg Road.
The changes were made due to Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility issues at Helmsburg Elementary School and Faith Full Gospel Church, said Brown County Election Board member Susanne Gaudin.
Gaudin told the Brown County Commissioners on March 7 that the only issue she saw with Fruitdale Fire Department was that areas in the parking lot asphalt were starting to break up due to winter freezing and thawing, but that could be corrected with patching.
She said one precinct could vote in Jackson Fire’s community room and that the department would move trucks out of the bays so another precinct could vote in there. Gaudin said volunteers would be available to help direct traffic during the primary election.
Gaudin said the election board is working to remove all polling locations from schools. Students are inconvenienced by having to eat lunch in class and not being able to use the playgrounds, and there’s the security issue of the public entering the schools.
Commissioners Diana Biddle and Jerry Pittman agreed.
“Given what’s going on with the schools, we’re not doing a good job if we are not making a move to get our polling places out of our schools. They don’t need that added extra security risk. We need to move them,” Biddle said.
“I would definitely be in favor of removing all polling at the schools. It just opens up security issues that we don’t need to have,” Pittman added.
Van Buren Elementary is where voters in all of Van Buren Township go to vote. That polling location is not moving for the May primary.
Biddle said that poll site eventually could be moved to the fire station across the street, but the parking lot would have to be paved. She said grants may be available to pave it make it ADA compliant.
Sprunica Elementary also will continue to be used as a polling site for now. Gaudin said Hamblen Township Volunteer Fire Department could be used as the polling location for Hamblen 1 voters instead.
Another change Gaudin mentioned during the commissioners meeting was that the polling location at Parkview Church of the Nazarene will be in the main church building instead of in the family life center like in years past.
Gaudin said the parking lot is flatter next to the main church building and the handicap spaces are already marked there.
Candidate removed from ballot due to paperwork
Van Buren Township will have one less candidate to consider for Van Buren Township Advisory Board in May.
The Brown County Election Board voted last month to remove Republican candidate Tim Kelley from the ballot.
Kelley did not provide the required certification from his party chairman before the Feb. 9 deadline, said election board member and Brown County Clerk Brenda Woods.
The party chair had contacted election board member Susanne Gaudin about it, and Gaudin asked the Indiana Election Division for advice.
That office’s response was that changes could be made to the candidate declaration before the deadline, but not after, Woods said.
Gaudin said that Kelley had also stated he voted as a Republican in the most recent primary, but a check of his voting record showed he last voted in the 2008 primary and had pulled a Democrat ballot then.
This leaves five candidates on the ballot, two Democrats and three Republicans. The top three vote-getters from each party will advance to the November election, and the top three overall will get the seats after that vote.
Town council candidate filing window open
Nashville residents have until July 2 to file paperwork with the Brown County clerk to become a candidate for Nashville Town Council in the November election. Three seats are up this year: one representing District 1 and two at-large seats.
At-large candidates can live anywhere in town limits. District 1 candidates have to live on the far west or south side of downtown Nashville; on the west side of State Road 135 North up to Ridgeway; or on the north side of Ridgeway, in Pine Tree Hills, in the Orchard Hill area neighborhoods or other points north of Ridgeway.
MAP: Nashville town council districts
A school board election also will be on the November ballot, but not on the May ballot. The filing window for school board is between July 25 and Aug. 24.
School board and town council elections are nonpartisan.
Public voting machine test happening this month
Voting machines that Brown County voters will use in the May 8 primary election will be tested at 2 p.m. Thursday, March 29 at the County Office Building on Locust Lane.
The public is welcome to attend and try out the machines.
