Bucks decides to alter voting districts
By Gary Weckselblatt, Intelligencer, August 14, 2008
Bucks County commissioners agreed to alter voting districts
in four townships Wednesday, but the number of residents who would be notified of the change led to a dispute among the three-person
board and several exchanges between officials and the audience.
Diane Marseglia, the board’s lone Democrat, wanted
all voters who’ve had their district or polling place changed to receive a mailing from the county. Currently, only
those who are part of a new district are notified, according to the county’s elections director Deena Dean.
“I don’t feel comfortable voting unless
I know everyone will be notified,” said Marseglia, who voted against the new district in Buckingham and realignment
in Plumstead. A new district in Hilltown and realignment in New Britain passed 3-0.
Commissioner Charley Martin worried about the cost
of such a process, but said “we’re going to do the best we can.” He said the county Web site would have
the new information and thought “industrious candidates would let people know where to vote.”
He explained that the reason for Wednesday’s
meeting was to vote on the voting district changes because the board of election has “to go to the courts to get approval
to do it.” He said figuring out how to inform voters “can be done later.”
That wasn’t sufficient for some of the approximately
25 people at the meeting at Doylestown Library. Madeline Rawley of Doylestown, a member of the Coalition for Voting Integrity,
spoke passionately about “the real need to publicize every time a voting change is made … to inform every voter
by whatever means you can.”
Rawley also said the county may be short of the number
of voting machines it has, which could lead to “considerable disenfranchisement of voters in the November presidential
election.”
Said Martin, “We all want the same thing. …
Let’s look and see what they do in other countries, where people have to walk over mountains to vote. Here you may have
to wait a little bit … sometimes there’s a bit of a sacrifice.”
Here is how the voting districts will change:
n In Buckingham, District Upper 3, which has 2,937
voters along Cold Spring Creamery Road, was divided into two districts with 1,370 and 1,567 voters each.
• In Hilltown, Blooming Glen District 2,
which has 2,853 voters along Route 152 or Walnut Street, was divided into two districts with 1,488 and 1,365 voters each.
• In New Britain Township, the boundaries
of South 1 and South 2 districts were moved. The districts shift from 2,037 and 999 voters, respectively, to a more evenly
divided 1,600 and 1,436.
• In Plumstead, the boundaries of Districts
2 and 3, which have more than 2,400 voters each, were moved and District 5 was created. The newly realigned districts have
1,651, 1,700 and 1,586 voters, respectively.
Also Wednesday, members of the League of Women Voters
asked commissioners to return Bensalem’s Creekside voting district to its previous location.
Three judges acting as the county board of elections
officially moved the polling place for the Lower Middle 5 District from Creekside Apartments — where the majority of
the district’s voters live — to Polanka Hall about a mile away.
The complex is home to many elderly and disabled residents,
as well as immigrants who do not drive, Democratic advocates and some residents have said. About a dozen residents have come
to public meetings, and 23 residents signed a petition saying the polling place move was akin to voter disenfranchisement.
County commissioners had a chance to reverse the judges’
decision, but Martin and Jim Cawley opted to leave the polling place at Polanka. Marseglia favored a move back to Creekside.
Joseph Kraher of Bensalem Wednesday asked the board
of elections to again reconsider and “get voters of Creekside to vote in Creekside.” He said crossing Street Road
is dangerous for many of the residents and has become increasingly dangerous since Philadelphia Park casino opened in December
2006.
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