Politics & Government
Bid To Make Melrose Voting At Middle School Permanent Falls Short
Elections were moved to the middle school in 2020 due in part to pandemic-related staffing shortages.
MELROSE, MA — Many residents could be voting at their old polling places again after city lawmakers dealt a blow to efforts to permanently consolidate them at the middle school.
Six of 11 City Councilors on Monday night voted against a motion to make permanent the consolidation of polling places to the Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School gym for all city elections. The order now can't be refiled for six months.
Elections have been held at the middle school since late 2020 due to pandemic-related staffing shortages. Since then, accessibility issues at other polling places have come to light.
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"The move to the Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School Gymnasium for September and November 2020 election proved to be an operational success," the Board wrote in a memo to the City Council last summer.
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Find out what's happening in Melrosefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Mike Carraggi can be reached at mike.carraggi@patch.com. Follow him on Twitter @PatchCarraggi. Subscribe to Melrose Patch for free local news and alerts and like us on Facebook.
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