Lincoln County residents speak out on polling locations: ‘We’re not going to shrink away’

LINCOLN COUNTY, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Lincoln County’s Board of Elections is getting push-back after leaders say they’re thinking about cutting the number of polling locations from seven down to one. The Board of Elections Office was closed for the holidays but people still showed up to voice their concerns.

“If there’s no problem, if it isn’t broke, why are they trying to fix a system that they know works,” said Denise Freeman, a human rights activist.

Freeman says her biggest concerns are transportation, long lines impacting the disabled, money, and people having to travel long distances to get to the polling location.

“This is a rural county, everybody should be afforded the luxury of casting their vote in a convenient place of where they live,” she said.

She says residents have been told it’s for the purpose of saving money but they have not been given definite answers.

“When it comes to being elected to an office or placed on a board to do what is right by your citizens then the only option you have is to be transparent and involve your local community in any change that you’re thinking about,” said Freeman.

Freeman says she will continue to push for answers.

“We’re not going to shrink away, we’re not going to go and pretend this isn’t happening, we’re going to do what we need to do to let them know, ‘No this is not something we want,’” she said.

Freeman says the Board of Elections will be meeting again after the new year. We’ve reached out to the Board of Elections and they are closed for the holidays. We also reached out to the Lincoln County Commission but have not heard back just yet.

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