Gainesboro Voting Precinct Moving To Election Office

Voters in Gainesboro used to voting at Gainesboro Elementary School will now cast votes at the city’s new Elections Office.

Election Administrator Drew McMillan said the elementary school has been susceptible to flooding. Moving the precinct gives election staff more control of the voting process and ensures voter safety. McMillan said he said some 550 voters have been notified that the change will affect them.

“It was the layout of the water running off of the hills,” McMillan said. “The school board has done a good job of mitigating the water that gets down into the schools now, but just as a precaution, we thought it would be best just to go ahead and move it.”

The Elections Office is located at at 238 North Grundy Quarles Highway. McMillan said the new office has about triple the space for voting as well. He said election staff began working full-time in the new office last week and he expects the office to be complete after another two weeks of housekeeping.

McMillan said the new precinct will flow more smoothly with one way in and another way out, rather than using one outlet for voters both coming and going. He said any Jackson County voters can use the Elections Office for early voting, but only city voters will use it come election day.

“Technically, we have two city precincts,” McMillan said. “1-2 is all city, and then 2-2, which is the utility district, has a split. So, there’s only about 50 voters over there that can vote in the city in the 2-2.”

He said Gainesboro Elementary School caused no glaring difficulty to voters aside from the potential dangers posed by days of heavy rain leading up to election day. He said he is excited for voters to get a chance to see the new office when it is complete.

“It’s been a while since it has seen a flood,” McMillan said. “They’ve done some work over there, but if we can take any precautionary things out, we always do, so we thought that would be the best move.”