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Editorial: Polling place problem was avoidable

April 19, 2007

Boyle County Clerk Denise Curtsinger and the Board of Elections have taken a lot of heat over the consolidation of polling places. It's time to take some more.

Last November, over the objections of a vocal electorate, the board approved Curtsinger's plan to reduce 18 polling places to five. Voting machines for most precincts ended up at the convention center, while voters in western Boyle County - Junction City, Perryville, Parksville and Mitchellsburg - got to stay at home, so to speak.

Despite the grumbling, the accusations of politics in the decision making, and a rainy election day, things went fairly smoothly at the convention center. Machine problems, mainly software related, which slowed and complicated the counting of votes, would have occurred regardless of the polling place.

It was a logistical success - almost.

Curtsinger sold the idea, in part, with the argument that moving to the convention center was not going to cost any more than staying put, that it might even save us money by reducing expenses. She weathered the storm, including a bid to unseat her, and it seemed the plan might become permanent.

We now learn that the convention center deal was not sealed. There was a verbal agreement between Curtsinger and the center's owners, which, of course, now has two versions. Curtsinger says she thought she had a price good through the primary season. Dr. Madar Bux says the deal was a one-time shot, open for renegotiation. His price now is five times the rate paid in November, which he says is still a healthy discount at half the regular rate.

His bottom line is that what the taxpayers got for $600 then will cost $3,000 now.

Bux seemed to resent any implication that the center has a civic duty to provide the space at a loss. And he's right to harbor that resentment. Government should pay a fair price for services from private enterprise.

For her part, Curtsinger seemed surprised when a verbal agreement that had been sufficient for firehouses and schools and churches was not sufficient for private business. She should have known better. She should have had a contract.

Now, the voters will endure another round of confusion. Eighteen polling places have morphed into five and then seven, with Inter-County Energy, Centenary Life Center and First Christian Church now in the mix.

Expect a wave of headshaking from frustrated voters. Expect a lot of finger-pointing from Curtsinger's critics. All of that is deserved. She may deserve the inevitable problems at the polls, too, should anybody show up, but the candidates, the voters and the process deserve better.

Go out of your way, if you must, to vote.

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