Bethesda Church wants to raise polling place fee for Belmont County Board of Elections

ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- Members of the Belmont County Board of Elections said that although it would like to use a Bethesda church as a polling location, the church is requesting a fee four times higher than the board would normally would pay.

Bethesda Christian Church has asked for $400 to be used as a polling location for the May 8 primary election. Bill Shubat, director of the board, said that the church had approached the board to ask for the to board replace existing polls in the Bethesda precinct. The church recently built a handicap-accessible ramp to become fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

But, board members said, at $400, the cost is just too steep. Frankie Lee Carnes, chairwoman of the board, said it usually pays locations $100 to use a building for polling.

She also said the church is a tax-free organization.

"If they stick to the $400, we will have to take the precinct (polling locations) and put them back where they were for November," said Carnes.

The Bethesda precincts previously voted at the James Carnes Center and the Bethesda Village Building.

Board members agreed Monday that Shubat should try to discuss the price further with the church before making a final decision.

In other business, the board discussed poll workers attending "poll school" to help them learn about their duties on an election day. The workshops will be held today, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week; April 23; and April 26. The board also spoke about its student poll workers, which are made up of 13 students each from Bellaire and St. Clairsville High Schools. The students, who are all eligible to vote, will be employed as poll workers for election day after attending the workshops and learning how to do so. Carnes said the program has been going on for years in Belmont County and she's happy to see it continue this election cycle.

"It's something that we started in 1994 or 1995, and then about 5 years later the state decided it was a pretty good thing," said Carnes who also said such programs are common across the state. "It really has been a unique and wonderful thing."

Shubat also spoke briefly about a plan approved this week by the Ohio Senate that could provide over $100 million to counties in Ohio to replace voting machines and other equipment. Shubat said the plan still has to pass the state House and said the Belmont County board would primarily use any money to help pay for the equipment they already have. He said they had received new machines only a year or so ago, so the county is in good shape when it comes to voting equipment.

The Belmont County Board of Elections meets regularly on the third Monday of the month at the board offices in St. Clairsville.