KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — In-person voting for Precincts 1 and 3 will be held in a new location in the City of Kalamazoo.
During a virtual meeting Monday night, City Staff voted to move the polling location to the Faith Temple Church of God, located at 402 South Westnedge Avenue.
Normally, in-person voting for these precincts would be taking place at the First United Methodist Church, located at 212 S. Park Street.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the church has not been meeting in-person for worship services and has not allowed outside organizations to use their facility, aside from a daycare program.
According to city documents, there are concerns about putting those children and their families at risk. As a result, First United Methodist Church has told the City its facility cannot be used as a polling location for the remaining elections in 2020.
As Election Division staff considered various facilities and locations, the following factors were taken into consideration:
- the size and layout of the voting areas;
- the availability of parking spaces;
- the proximity of polling facilities to the voters being served;
- and accessibility of the voting areas within the facilities, especially for individuals with disabilities.
This criteria led to staff moving the location to the Faith Temple Church of God. According to officials, this site has ample parking, a suitable interior space, and is located in a prominent location on a bus line (the corner of S. Westnedge Avenue and W. Lovell Street). Faith Temple Church of God has agreed to the use of it’s faciltiy as a polling location.
This change will be communicated to affected voters. First, the Election Division will send each affected voter a new Voter Identification Card that highlights the polling location change.
Second, for the August 4th election, signs will be posted at First United Methodist Church directing voters to their new polling facility. Finally, the City’s website will be updated so that precinct maps, driving directions and street guides contain current information.
A map of precincts in the city can be viewed at this link.
Meanwhile, city officials are reminding citizens to turn in their absentee voter applications if they haven’t already.
“At this point, we have over 11,100 absentee ballots out and we have almost 4,700 back, which is quite a few back, but there’s still a lot out,” City Clerk Scott Borling said. “People will be able to vote in person for the normal hours of 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on election day.”
More information on voting absentee in Kalamazoo can be found here.
