The Columbia County Board of Elections received an update on precinct changes during its meeting on June 20.
Nancy Gay, Board of Elections executive director, told board members some of the precincts were being combined to help with growth in the county and others were being moved for that same reason. The changes are nearly finished and she has a plan to let people know.
“What I think I’m going to do, and I checked with GIS, for the month of July. I think what we’ll do is try and get the newspaper and any other media that might do a story on it and then have a link on the county’s website,” Gay said. “Even though these won’t be approved yet, have a link to where somebody can type in their address, whether it’s in these changes or not and pull and confirm their voter registration. Then if it’s changed, they’ll see their new information. The goal for me, in my opinion, is to have this where ya’ll will vote on it in the August meeting. But take the whole month of July to get the word out there.”
These changes include splitting precinct 019 (Columbia County Health Department) due to growth and creating precinct 013 (Grovetown Macedonia Church). Boundaries were changed to pull voters from 024(Second Mt. Moriah Church) and have them vote at 020(Harlem Branch Library) due to the size of the church facility. Precincts 025 (Bessie Thomas Community Center) and 026(Philadelphia Methodist Church) will be combined due to being unable to grow in size and residents will vote at 025 (former Euchee Creek Library).
Precincts 031 (Grovetown Methodist Church), 033(Grovetown PSD #2) and 034 (Grove First Baptist) were altered to help balance the population and allow for growth. Voters will be pulled from 031, 033 and 034 and sent to 030 (Liberty Park) and 025. Precinct 034 will be moved to the Grovetown Branch Library, which will allow for growth. Precinct 080 (Westside Baptist Church) and 090 (Abilene Baptist Church) were combined, and voters will go to Abilene Baptist Church to vote.
To get voters out of schools, which Gay said they are trying to do, 061 (Greenbrier High School) will be combined with 064 (Grace Baptist Church) and voting will take place at the church. Precincts 111 (Lakeside Middle School) and 136 (Blue Ridge Elementary School) will be combined, and voters will go to the Columbia County Board of Education Support Complex off Riverwatch Parkway.
Precincts 063 (Riverview Church) and 131 (Journey Community Church) now have the same voting districts due to redistricting and will be combined so voting will take place at Journey Community Church.
Precinct 076 (Marvin Methodist Church) will be moved to Westminster Presbyterian Church, which will allow for additional voting equipment to accommodate growth. Precinct 120 (Gold Cross) was moved to Harvest Pointe Fellowship due to the Gold Cross facility no longer being available and become 120 (Harvest Pointe Fellowship).
During the meeting it was said that the re-appointment of Ann Cushman as the chair was expected to be approved during the Columbia County Board of Commissioners meeting later that night, and commissioners did approve her re-appointment.
Gay presented the tentative 2024 elections calendar. The Presidential Preference Primary will be March 12, 2024, the general primary/nonpartisan election will be May 21, 2024, the general primary/nonpartisan runoff and general runoff for federal offices will be June 18, 2024, the general election will be Nov. 5, 2024 and the general runoff and general runoff for federal offices will be Dec. 3, 2024.
Voter registration numbers were presented, and as of June 16, there were 108,340 active voters in Columbia County and 16,522 inactive voters, for a total of 124,862 voters, Gay said.
The next Columbia County Board of Elections meeting will be Tuesday, July 18 at 10:30 a.m. at the Board of Elections office.
Stephanie Hill is a staff writer covering Columbia County government for The Augusta Press. Reach her at stephanie@theaugustapress.com.
