A lot of people will be affected by upcoming precinct changes in Preston County.
That’s according to County Clerk Linda Huggins, who presented the proposed changes at the Preston County Commission meeting Tuesday. She estimated 2,500-3,000 voters would be affected by the changes.
However, everyone facing a change will be notified and mailed a voter’s registration card.
Huggins said she expects the notifications will be complete within a few months.
“We’re having a new voter registration system that is to assist us in moving a group of people from one area to another and they don’t have those little quirks fine tuned yet,” Huggins said. “But it’ll happen; we’ll get it done here within a few months. Everyone will be notified in the mail.”
All three commissioners voted in favor of the proposed changes, which will be published for public comment. A vote to finalize the changes will be held at the Jan. 25 meeting.
In the Aurora area, Districts 23 and 28 will be combined into one precinct, Huggins said. She said they were two smaller precincts that made sense to combine.
Another change is moving the Albright polling place to the Albright Fellowship Center. The previous polling place was Albright Town Hall. The church has approved the use, Huggins said.
“It was just a little smaller space compared to what we have available just right down the road,” Huggins said.
Another new polling place will be East Preston Middle School. Huggins told the commission the Preston County Board of Education meeting voted to allow the school to be used at its meeting on Monday.
The change gives Terra Alta four precincts. Huggins said two of the larger precincts will be moved to the middle school. The fire department and ambulance building will remain polling places.
Commissioner Dave Price said all the proposed changes made sense.
Commission President Samantha Stone said while the process has been delayed because of COVID things are finally starting to wrap up.
