The East Lansing City Council will vote Tuesday on a change to the city’s voting precincts.
The precincts needed to be changed once the 2000 federal census had been completed to reflect population changes in the city detected by the election commission.
“Everyone in East Lansing will have a new precinct number,” East Lansing City Clerk Sharon Reid said.
The city was forced to combine different precincts after the census because of population shifts and requirements made for boundaries to be real, or along actual streets and roads within the city.
Along with the new precinct numbers, four locations would be added to the list of voting locations for this year.
An attempt was made to keep the original locations, but areas like the Union and Case Hall would be removed.
If the revision passes, the locations on campus will be Owen Graduate Hall, Akers Hall and Wilson Hall. New voting locations in the city would be the Peoples Church of East Lansing, 200 W. Grand River Ave., and the Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbott Road.
“Students may move but we are trying to keep the voting locations the same in August and November,” Reid said.
East Lansing Mayor Mark Meadows served on the commission to revise the precincts.
Meadows said East Lansing residents will be notified of the changes if they pass.
“It would be a reduction of places on campus but more convenient,” he said.
The former Case Hall location would be moved to Wilson Hall, combining the area into one precinct.
The revisions to voting areas on campus were made because in some buildings the polls were held in areas that may have been difficult to find, and the census recorded 4,000 less people on campus, Meadows said.
“We are also going to be asking the university administration to commit to surface voting,” he said. “If you went to campus four or five years ago the precincts were tucked away.”
Buildings such as Snyder Hall had voters go into the basement to vote and were difficult to find for some, Meadows said. The ground level location will provide increased accessibility as well as visibility.
“We will be lobbying for that, and we hope students will sign on with us to try to make it a little more convenient,” he said.
But geography graduate student Matt Mitroka feels the change in precincts won’t improve voter turnout.
Mitroka ran for one of the two available seats on East Lansing City Council in the 2001 election, but he lost in the August primary.
But forcing the polls to be located on the surface level may improve visibility and make students aware of the ongoing election.
“I think people just don’t vote on campus because they don’t feel connected to the city,” he said. “It’s like changing your classes every semester, moving the precincts around I don’t think is going to change that much.”
