Combined Voting Districts (H 5864, S 474)

This legislation allows Boards of Canvassers to combine voting districts for many elections, and ultimately passed without amendments which we proposed to ensure proper notification to voters and limits on the voters who can be sent to a polling location.

This legislation allows Boards of Canvassers to combine voting districts for many elections. We testified that there should be objective standards in place regarding how decisions are made to consolidate polling locations, as well as a notification system to voters to inform them of the change and a limit on the number of voters that can be sent to a polling location. The legislation, however, contained no standards whatsoever. Along with other voting rights advocacy groups, we proposed an amendment to address these concerns in the House version of the bill which was ultimately defeated on the floor. Despite our submission of a veto request, the bill was ultimately signed.