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On Tuesday, May 28, the Sudbury Select Board voted to approve a proposed consolidation of Sudbury’s two Election Day polling locations, Town Hall and the Fairbank Community Center, down to one location at the Fairbank Community Center. The change will go into effect for the upcoming State primary election.
Town Clerk, Beth Klein, proposed the consolidation and presented her case to the Select Board. Klein explained that the consolidation would be more convenient for voters, but it would also simplify election management and save the Town money.
In her presentation, there was much discussion about the advantages of the new Fairbank Community Center, which has more space, central air conditioning, a backup generator, and what she believed was a better parking setup than Town Hall, which shares parking with Peter Noyes Elementary School. The community center is also ADA compliant and has more bathrooms.
Klein also noted that the decline in Election Day in-person voting, due to the increase in mail-in and early voting, eliminates a lot of the parking concerns. Since 2020, there has been a 50% decrease in election day voting. Here’s the data that was presented:
On the cost-saving side of things, Klein estimated that a consolidation to one polling location would save the Town nearly $2,000 per election on election staff, and somewhere between $1,600 and $2,400 on police details per election.
After a few high-level questions, the Select Board voted unanimously to approve the changes. The change will impact voters in Sudbury precincts 4 and 6. Those voters historically voted in Town Hall if they were voting in-person on Election Day. Moving forward, they’ll need to go to the Fairbank Community Center. Voters in all other precincts will continue to vote at the Fairbank Community if they opt to vote in-person on Election Day.
Early voting will continue to be at Town Hall. Klein noted that the Town gets very few in-person early voters, and it was much easier to manage early voting in close proximity to the Clerk’s office.