Macon-Bibb elections board moves closer to identifying new early voting location
The Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections has expanded its search for a potential early voting location to include four different sites.
The elections board asked county officials on Thursday to continue to examine the viability of locations for a second early-voting location.
The earliest a new location could be ready is in time for May's elections since a 60 day notice is required to inform voters. Elections officials said they would like to make a decision on a spot by early next month.
"The commissioners are asking you where do you want to go," Assistant County Manager Charles Coney told the elections board members at their Thursday afternoon meeting.
The four locations now under consideration are:
The Emery Highway complex, located near the Coliseum Medical Centers, is home to offices for the Macon-Bibb County Health Department.
The sheriff's building, at 3504 Jeffersonville Road in east Bibb County, is mainly used for administrative work for deputies, said Sheriff David Davis.
"If the (Board of Elections) or whoever wants to use it, we can more than accommodate them," he said Thursday evening.
The Terminal Station.
The Macon Coliseum's Monument Room.
The Terminal Station and Coliseum locations are options that would require the county to make sure there aren't any scheduling conflicts, Coney said.
NEW ELECTIONS OFFICE BEING CONSIDERED
The Board of Elections also agreed Thursday to continue working toward a move of the main office into the former Shoe Carnival building at the Westgate Shopping Center.
Elections board members asked Safeway Group, a company that specializes in lease management of shopping centers, to continue negotiations at the Pio Nono Avenue shopping center. Right now, leasing space in that center requires the tenant to be a commercial entity. Unless that requirement is waived, the county will have to abandon hopes of using that site.
Elections officials said they don't want to wait too long negotiating at Westgate since they prefer to find a new place to move this year.
"I think we should continue to push for that space, and one of the reasons for that is we've already lost time," elections board member Mike Kaplan said. "If we continue looking for another space, we'll have to start from scratch."
To contact writer Stanley Dunlap, call 744-4623 or find him on Twitter@stan_telegraph.
This story was originally published January 21, 2016 at 6:47 PM with the headline "Macon-Bibb elections board moves closer to identifying new early voting location ."