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Election board eyes western precinct
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The Dawson County Board of Elections is in talks over the possibility of applying for a grant that could lead to moving the county's west voting precinct.

"We've always had issues at Station 6, one way or another," said Glenda Ferguson, the county's election supervisor.

Voters on the county's west side currently cast their ballots at Fire Station No. 6 on Hubbard Road, near Big Canoe.

"There have always been problems with heating and cooling the station, which is a manned station," Ferguson said.

There is also the additional inconvenience of having the emergency workers housed at the station leave the station during election days, she said.

According to Ferguson, Fire Station No. 4, an unmanned, volunteer station in the Emma community, could be an alternate voting location. The station is about five miles east of the current precinct.

The grant in question would be utilized to make the Emma station ADA compliant, a requirement for voting precincts.

"This grant is for up to $50,000 and doesn't require a match from the county," she said.

Making capital improvements to the heating and cooling units at Station 6 is not an option, according to District 1 Commissioner Gary Pichon.

"The county doesn't own that building, so we can't make any capital upgrades to it," he said. "The fire station in Emma is county-owned property, so we could make improvements to it."

The five-member election board is expected to revisit the matter at its June 17 meeting.

"This is all still very preliminary," Ferguson said. "I just feel like I would be doing the voters in the county a disservice if I didn't check into this grant to look to see if this could potentially be a good move."