LACKAWANNA COUNTY, Pa. — Lackawanna County Director of Elections Beth Hopkins and her staff have spent weeks preparing for the November election. As more people in the county choose to vote with a mail-in ballot, other changes had to be implemented from the federal government for polling locations.
"After the 2016 election, the Department of Justice contacted the county, and they wanted to do handicap accessibility studies on all the polling places," said Beth Hopkins.
The county Board of Elections announced some temporary and permanent locations, starting with this election, that will affect thousands of county residents, more than 7,000 in Scranton. The county also notified voters of the changes by mail.
"The percentage of voters in these particular polling places in Scranton that we moved were very low, I mean under in the primary election under 30%, in the majority of them down to 10%," Hopkins said.
You can check your polling place at the Pennsylvania Voter Services website.
The temporary changes are for:
- Voters in Old Forge who went to the Old Forge Borough building will vote at the Eagle McClure Hose Company.
- Scranton residents who went to the Riverside Housing complex will vote in Jackson Heights.
- Scranton High School will become the permanent polling place for those who have been voting at The Boys and Girls Club, the United House Apartments, The Hebrew Day School, St. Peters Lutheran Church, and Weston Field.
- In Dunmore, those who voted at Our Lady of Peace Residence will now go to the Dunmore Community Center.
Some of these polling places had to be moved because they didn't meet federal election standards like Weston Field House.
"We did have a lot of voters contact us complaining about the accessibility, the parking, and different things like that. So, we thought this would be a good time that we had to move them anyway. So, let's find a place to move to," Hopkins said.
The complete list of relocated polling places after a vote by the Lackawanna County Board of Elections is as follows:
- Temporarily relocate the polling location of Old Forge-3:From: Old Forge Borough, Senior Center: 310 S Main St., Old Forge To: Eagle McClure Hose Co. # 1: 375 Milwaukee Ave., Old Forge
- Temporarily relocate the polling locations of Old Forge 6-1 and 6-2 From Old Forge Municipal Building 310 S Main Street, Old Forge, to Eagle McClure Hose Co. # 1: 375 Milwaukee Ave., Old Forge
- Temporarily relocate the polling location of Scranton 6-1: From Riverside Housing, 200 Emmett Street, Scranton, to Jackson Heights, 1001 Jackson Street, Scranton.
- Permanently relocate the polling location of Dunmore 1-1 From Our Lady of Peace Residence: 1510 University Ave., Dunmore, to Dunmore Community Center: 1414 Monroe Ave., Dunmore.
- Permanently relocate the polling location of Scranton 7-1 From The Boys & Girls Club: 609 Ash Street, Scranton, to Scranton High School: 63 Mike Munchak Way, Scranton.
- Permanently relocate the polling locations of Scranton 9-1 and 9-2 From United House Apartments: 501 Pine Street, Scranton, to Scranton High School: 63 Mike Munchak Way, Scranton.
- Permanently relocate the polling location of Scranton 17-2:From: The Hebrew Day School: 530 Monroe Avenue, Scranton, to Scranton High School: 63 Mike Munchak Way, Scranton.
- Permanently relocate the polling locations of Scranton 10-1 and 10-2 From St. Peters Lutheran Church: 1000 Taylor Avenue, Scranton, to Scranton High School: 63 Mike Munchak Way, Scranton.
- Permanently relocate the polling location of Scranton 2-3 From Weston Field, 982 Providence Road, Scranton, to Scranton High School, 63 Mike Munchak Way, Scranton.
- Permanently relocate the polling location of Scranton 21-1:From Weston Field: 982 Providence Road, Scranton, to Scranton High School: 63 Mike Munchak Way, Scranton.
You can check your polling place at the Pennsylvania Voter Services website.