Lynchburg City Council rejects new precinct idea for LU

Lynchburg City Council rejected the idea of creating a new precinct for Liberty University voters during a meeting Tuesday.

The prevailing majority argued the suggestion was an overreaction not yet justified by history.

Members also noted it would be difficult, if not impossible, to get the General Assembly to accept any precinct changes, and observed a federal census pending in 2010 means a re-evaluation of all precincts is already on the horizon.

Ward III Councilman Jeff Helgeson, whose district includes LU, suggested the change as a means of alleviating congestion at the Heritage Elementary School precinct, which saw its registration more than double this year as thousands of LU students signed up to vote.

Heritage Elementary School takes voters from the LU campus.

“This has been a sleepy little polling place, and now it’s got a whole lot of new people,” Helgeson said. “With that, I think it’s incumbent upon us to take action.”

The councilman added the city had a responsibility to its voters, and distributed data showing the Heritage Elementary precinct had grown almost as fast over the past four years as the other three voting wards combined.

The request for a new precinct failed 3-4 with councilmen Helgeson, Turner Perrow of Ward IV, and Scott Garrett, at large, in the minority.

Those voting against the measure noted LU’s students have only been on the voter rolls for this year’s presidential election.

Upcoming elections occur at the state and local levels, which tend to generate less excitement and can’t be counted on to produce the same kind of turnout, officials noted.

“I just think this is a completely extreme overreaction,” said Vice Mayor Bert Dodson. “… To just rush in and do this is sloppy government.”

The vice mayor voted against a new precinct along with Mayor Joan Foster, Ward I Councilman Mike Gillette and Ward II Councilman Ceasor Johnson.

Gillette noted Heritage Elementary was not the biggest precinct in the city — that title goes to the Moose Lodge in Ward I.

Heritage Elementary, which did see the city’s single biggest turnout Nov. 4, now ranks as the second-largest precinct, according to a city memo.

Council members opposed to an extra precinct indicated they felt the issue could be better managed by adding extra voting machines and poll workers to Heritage Elementary in the future.

It would have been difficult for the city to get a new precinct approved. The state is putting a freeze on such changes beginning Feb. 1. The freeze won’t be lifted until 2011, when the next federal census is complete.

Helgeson had advocated immediately starting the precinct creation process, then asking the state to “grandfather” the subsequent voting site in. Other members suggested that plan had little, if any, hope of succeeding.

Barry N. Moore, vice president of university relations for LU, was in the audience during council’s deliberations.

He said afterward the school took no position on the precinct issue and trusted officials to make adequate provisions for future elections.

He added, though, he felt those anticipating a slump in LU’s voter turnout were mistaken.

“I think (the presidential election) heightened awareness, obviously,” Moore said. “But we fully expect this level, or something close to this level of interest, will continue.”

“Our students and faculty and staff will stay engaged in the future, because it’s the right thing to do,” he said. “It’s good citizenship.”