New Valley polling location poses problems

MAT-SU -- This year is the first time voters have been able to cast early election ballots at the Alaska Club Valley in Wasilla. The new location has raised a few concerns, but Division of Elections officials have taken steps to address potential problems.

The concerns -- just one of which was received by Division of Elections staff -- centered around political ads on radio or television near the polling place and on bumper stickers or signs in the parking lot.

The Alaska Club polling place in Creekside Plaza in Wasilla, just off the Parks Highway, was set up because the polling place previously used was not available.

For the past several years, both state and Mat-Su Borough election workers have manned early-voting booths in the community area of Cottonwood Creek Mall. This year, space at the mall was rented by the Lisa Murkowski campaign for U.S. Senate.

Because state law prohibits the display of political signs or other attempts to influence voters within 200 feet of a polling place, the Alaska Division of Elections and the Mat-Su Borough went looking for new digs for their early voting polls.

Carol Thompson, Southcentral region director of the Division of Elections, and Mat-Su Borough Clerk Michelle McGehee said officials at the Alaska Club offered space for voters in their Valley facility, near the club's main entrance.

The division took them up on the offer, but the borough declined. Borough election officials instead set up a polling place in the Creekside Plaza offices.

McGehee said she was pleased with the office polling place, where election officials were able to use office equipment such as faxes and telephones.

"They offered all the amenities we needed," McGehee said. "It met the needs of the borough."

Thompson said she felt the larger area would better accommodate the numbers of voters casting early ballots in the general and primary elections. Thompson said election officials at the polling place have worked to keep election-related influences out of the polling place and away from voters. A television in the nearby club-member lounge was moved so it was not audible or visible from the polling place.

Election workers, Thompson said, try to be aware of vehicles in the parking lot with campaign signs or bumper stickers promoting a candidate or proposition. Vehicle owners are typically asked to park elsewhere or, if the owner can't be found, an electioneering sign is placed over the sign or sticker.

So far, it's worked out well, Thompson said -- the easily accessible polling place has been very busy since it opened Oct. 18. Of course, she said, every polling place has been busy this election season -- her division, as of Friday, had received about 15,000 absentee ballots in person, by fax or by mail.

Rebekah Lincecum, the polling place official at the Alaska Club Valley polling place, said she sees between 70 and 100 voters on her shift, and probably between 120 to 150 people stop by to vote each day.

Friday, she said, 95 people had voted by 3 p.m. With two election workers, she said, voters are able to sign in and vote in about five minutes. She said aside from one complaint about a radio station being broadcast in the polling area -- which was addressed by having radio turned off in that area -- there have been no problems with the polling place.

Thompson said although the polling place appears to be working well, she takes such complaints seriously. If she receives more, she said, she may have to rethink the polling location -- something she'd rather not do, as the site has been quite popular.

"If it continues, I may have to move it. I'm hoping not to," Thompson said. "It would be unfortunate if we have to pull it."

Contact Rindi White at rindi.white@frontiersman.com.