With less than one week until the election, some Auburn officials are concerned that a consolidation of county polling places will cause confusion for voters and a possible lower turnout.

City Councilor Thomas McNabb believes that approximately half the people do not know where to vote. He also does not understand why the county decided to consolidate voting places with the national average of registered voters being so high.

“Nationwide, there's more people going to the polls this year than any time in history, and we're closing down places,” McNabb said. “Rochester is adding more polling places and more machines because they're anticipating more people and we're closing them down. It doesn't make sense to me.”

The Cayuga County Board of Elections notified town and city officials about the changes in June and started sending postcards with polling places to voters in August, said deputy commissioner Deborah Calarco. Since September, the office has been fielding questions about where people need to vote.

Some people have called to verify that their polling place has, in fact, changed, Calarco said.

Polling places were consolidated because some facilities are no longer open, such as the Frederick Street fire station, which was formerly a polling place, she said. The second issue was the availability of handicapped-accessible voting places.

However, the board will re-examine the polling places for next year, Calarco said.

“There is nothing set in stone,” she said. “The only thing I can say is that consolidation will probably stay.”

McNabb's primary concern is that people will be confused about where they have to vote, he said.

“There's nothing worse than having someone standing in line to vote to be told that they are in the wrong place,” he said.

He is also worried that there will be long lines, but hopes that it won't deter people from voting.

The Board of Elections will also have posters on former polling places to notify voters where the new place is.

Merritt Fletcher, director of human rights for the city of Auburn, said he was concerned that Booker T. Washington Center was taken off the list of polling places for this year because it's a place used by a lot of minorities. The Board of Elections has told him that polling places were randomly chosen to be removed and that it would be re-examined for future elections, he said.

“We have people going around making sure that people who are registered are going to vote,” he said. “It certainly shouldn't change how the vote takes place. Hopefully, people are committed enough to voting to go to the other places.”

Staff writer Gitana Mirochnik can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 237 or gitana.mirochnik@lee.net