Fr. Co. Commissioner Questions Reasons for Precinct Consolidation

A Franklin County commissioner says he wants answers regarding the timing by the Franklin County Board of Elections  to consolidate precincts.

At their work session Tuesday night, the board received an update on the Election Board’s latest plan to pare the current 13 precincts down to seven.

But commissioner Clint Harper implied the decision to consolidate may have been of a political nature.

“My question is, the precincts you are wanting to cut, are those the precincts that voted against the SPLOST,” Harper asked.

The question raised eyebrows from election board members and Franklin County Elections Superintendent Tess Eubanks who said the decision had to do with cost, not politics.

“It has become a trend in counties in Georgia,” Eubanks explained. “They’re finding such a significant savings because of the voting process being prolonged, it’s becoming very expensive for counties to hold an election.”

“Has anybody on this board and approached you about the need for the county to save money,” Harper asked.

“No. No one on the board has approached us. We just thought it would be fiscally responsible of us to try and save the county money,” Eubanks replied.

Eubanks told the board the consolidation would save the county about $4,000 per election so in years where there’s more than one election, the savings could be as much as $20,000.

Harper then asked Eubanks to research which precincts voted against the SPLOST and report back to him with her findings.

Elections Board Chair Chip Vandiver took umbrage with Harper’s suggestion and was concerned Harper might think the Elections Board would act in any sort of political retaliation.

“The implication is that we discussed what precincts voted against the SPLOST and tried to eliminate those precincts,” Vandiver said. “That’s just completely untrue. She (Eubanks) may not know. You probably do know and if you do, you should go ahead and say something, but there was no political consideration at all.”

Harper then  pointed out the Elections board is appointed and and any precinct consolidation he believes, should be brought to the voters.

Under the Election Board’s plan all five polling places would remain in the five municipalities and two other precincts would be chosen for the rural parts of the county.

One of the new precincts would include the current precincts of Middle River, Gunnells, Dooley and Ashland.  The second rural precinct would consolidate the current precincts of Strange, Flintsville and Red Hill.  Also, the Wellborn polling place would be combined with the Gumlog polling place but at a new location.