Some East Ridge residents received a new voter registration card from the Hamilton County Election Commission on Thursday informing them that they would be voting on election day, Aug. 6, at Camp Jordan Arena, a facility that has never been used as a polling place.
Kerry Steelman, the Administrator of Elections for the election commission, confirmed that the arena would be the exclusive site for East Ridge voters casting their ballots on election day and said the move was made as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We wanted to find a facility that provided a safe environment for voting,” Steelman said in a telephone interview on Thursday.
East Ridge, historically, has had three different polling places containing a total of four precincts.
Two precincts were located at the Community Center at City Hall on Tombras Avenue. The other two were at the American Legion Post 95 on Ringgold Road on the west end of the city, while the other was at East Ridge United Methodist Church on Prater Road.
Steelman said that during this health crisis the community center is too small and provides inadequate ingress and egress for voters. He noted that the American Legion hall has only one way in and out of the cramped building. Officials with the Methodist church insisted on the election commission requiring masks be worn. Election commission officials are strongly urging the wearing of masks during voting but are not requiring it.
Steelman said that every voter in East Ridge will soon receive a new voter registration card showing the voting site as Camp Jordan Arena. They have all been mailed.
Some voters here have already received a new card showing Camp Jordan Arena as their polling place. Kay Bartlett Vickery was one of the voters who received a new card.
Vickery posted on East Ridge TN Friends & Neighbors Facebook page that she had always voted at the community center. “Now I have to go all the way to Camp Jordan. I live up by the tunnels.”
East Ridge Mayor Brian Williams took to social media on Thursday to respond.
Mayor Williams said that the City had been contacted by the election commission, whose officials explained the change was due to COVID-19. All precincts would be consolidated to a larger area for social distancing.
When challenged on how the arena would help with social distancing, Williams said Camp Jordan Arena is a much larger area for polling machines to be spaced farther apart.
Harriet McCrary, an East Ridge resident who works at the polls, took to social media to endorse having a single polling place.
“It will help with the line also,” McCrary wrote on East Ridge Concerned Citizens. “Last presidential year we had lines snaking around the gym at the recreation center. As a poll worker having the larger area will be better.”
Steelman said Thursday that the plan is for the cavernous arena floor to be curtained off into four different sections with each separate section being a precinct. The large area will allow for ample social distancing.
Steelman believes the arena is a “facility that provides a safe environment for voting.”
Officials are strongly urging residents to cast their ballots during the early voting period which runs from July 17 to Aug. 1.
There will be no early voting at Camp Jordan Arena. Early voting sites are as follows:
Brainerd Rec Center, 1010 North Moore Rd. Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Saturday hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Election Commission, 700 River Terminal Rd. Hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Saturday’s hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Collegedale City Hall, 4910 Swinyar Dr. Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Saturday’s hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Hixson Community Center, 5401 School Drive. Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday’s hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Steelman said individuals may also consider voting by absentee ballot. The deadline for applying for an absentee ballot is July 30.
Click on this link for more information: http://elect.hamiltontn.gov/VoterInfo/AbsenteeVoting.aspx
