MIDDLEBURY — Same place, different floor.
Nearly 1,800 residents whose homes are now located in the 15th State Senate district will not have to travel to a different building to vote this fall.
Instead, those voters will cast their ballots on the top floor of the Shepardson Community Center on Whittemore Road, whereas other residents will cast their ballots on the bottom floor.
Republican Registrar of Voters Nancy Robison said earlier this year that the town may need to find another polling place since district lines were redrawn last year, dividing the northern portion of town between the 15th Senate District, now represented by Sen. Joan Hartley, D-Waterbury, and the 32nd District, now represented by Sen. Robert J. Kane, R-Watertown.
Instead, Robison said, the state will allow the town to simply use the top floor for one set of voters and the bottom floor for another.
"We're going to be sending a letter to all of the families in the new district to let them know about the change," Robison said. "People will be used to going downstairs, but we'll have greeters to tell everyone where to go."
States are required to redraw both statehouse and congressional districts each decade. The maps are supposed to reflect the latest U.S. Census data to provide equal representation by creating districts of roughly equal populations.
A review by the Republican-American in January revealed that the new district maps divide Middlebury and Upper Whittemore Road in half. Hartley's family owns a home in Middlebury just inside the new district lines.
The eastern side of Whittemore Road is now in the 15th, while the west remains in the 32nd.
Hartley has said the Whittemore address is a summer home and insisted that she lives at her 3,250-square-foot Columbia Boulevard home in Waterbury.
The switch will not be necessary for other elections, including referendums, where Robison said the town will continue to use the bottom floor.
Although the change will not impact the voting location, Robison and Democratic Registrar of Voters Tom McCormack have said they will need to hire additional poll workers, buy up to three new voting machines and purchase additional ballots.
for the new district, and add another handicapped-accessible telephone voting unit.
Anyone who is interested in becoming a poll worker for upcoming elections is asked to call the registrars' office at 203-577-2061.
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