PRINCETON: Polling place move nixed by university

By Lauren Otis, Staff Writer
   A Princeton University student group’s efforts to increase student electoral participation by moving a polling location to the Frist Campus Center has hit a snag, but may have succeeded in opening a long overdue discussion of the appropriateness of Princeton Borough’s current polling configuration.
   ”I am one of a number of students from the school who last year came to realize that not many residents of District 1 are voting,” said David Christie, a junior at the university, before Princeton Borough Council on Tuesday evening.
   With about 95 percent of the people in District 1 located on the Princeton campus, Mr. Christie said his group decided it would be beneficial for turnout in elections if the polling place was moved from Trinity Church at 33 Mercer St. to the Frist Center on campus, which students are familiar with and able to get to easily.
   Mr. Christie said his group spoke with student political clubs and organizations, who backed the idea, and with the university administration in November, who indicated that the Frist Center would work as a polling place.
   ”Unfortunately the presentation I would have liked to have been giving was based on that facility and that location,” Mr. Christie told Borough Council members. “At about 4 p.m. I received a call from the school informing me the facility I had been promised in November was no longer an option,” he said.
   ”I quibble a little with the word being promised a space,” said Kristin Appelget, Princeton University director of community and regional affairs, at the meeting. Ms. Appelget said Mr. Christie met with her office, and there was “a conversation” about a year ago. Then, last week, the university found out his request for a polling place relocation to the Frist Center was on the Borough Council agenda.
   ”The detail at Frist that was never completed in the loop was parking,” Ms. Appelget said. The university contacted its public safety and parking authorities and found that the Frist Center “just could not accommodate the parking” needed for a polling site, she said. This was due to the fact that emergency access needed to be maintained at all times at the nearby McCosh infirmary, and there was a fire lane needing to be kept open, she said.
   ”It really came down to a question of could we provide that parking, and we couldn’t,” Ms. Appelget said.
   Members of Borough Council voiced additional concerns over the move of the polling place onto campus.
   With a primary election always occurring in June, when no students are on campus, relocating the polling site “doesn’t make sense at all,” said council President Andrew Koontz. Mr. Koontz said hundreds of students manage to find their way to the current Trinity Church site for elections, but often need to be redirected to a different polling site where they are registered, so the problem is not a turnout problem but a “misdirection” matter.
   Mr. Koontz said he was concerned that handicapped and other access might be compromised because of less available parking if the site was moved on campus.
   Councilman David Goldfarb said the Frist Center site presented traffic congestion problems and, being on the far side of campus, was inconvenient for borough residents in District 1.
   ”I am not opposed to the concept” of moving the polling place on campus, Mr. Goldfarb said. He would prefer a location near the McCarter Theatre side, however, he said.
   ”Something on that side of the campus I would be more interested in entertaining,” Mr. Goldfarb said.
   Councilman Roger Martindell noted the old U store site on University Place might be a viable polling location, with a good size parking lot across the street.
   Joshua Leinsdorf, a poll worker in District 1, told Borough Council that between the Trinity Church site and the Frist Center, “from a poll worker’s perspective it is a wash.” “Parking is an issue at Trinity Church,” just as it is at a campus site, Mr. Leinsdorf said.
   Handicapped access parking is poor at the Trinity Church location too, Mr. Leinsdorf said. “It would be better if you could find a better location,” he said.
   ”What is raised here is just the tip of an iceberg,” Mr. Leinsdorf said. Much about the District 1 voting district doesn’t make sense, he said.
   ”You never get more than a dozen votes in the primary in District 1 and you spend $1,000 on poll workers,” which comes out to around $80 per vote, Mr. Leinsdorf said.
   Because student names are maintained on the voting rolls even if after they have moved on “we get 1,500 voting authorities for an election in which 12 people vote,” Mr. Leinsdorf said.
   ”The university store would be the best place, it would solve both problems,” being close to both the campus and residential communities and having plenty of parking across the street, Mr. Leinsdorf said.
   Mr. Christie said he hoped to appear before Borough Council again with a new proposal.
   Following the meeting, Ms. Appelget said Mr. Christie and his group were dedicated and had worked hard on the polling site relocation idea. She said the idea of using the old U store site made sense and was worth pursuing.