National Polling Location Data - Big Change?

[David Glover]

Almost all the major voting and election sites seem to be now redirecting any polling location inquiries to the State Board of Elections.  Also, our state (Oklahoma) is now much more resistant to providing the address information for polling locations.  Does anyone know about this possible national change in philosophy and policy?  I guess some sites did not keep up with changes and it may have caused confusion?

[Stephanie Singer]

David,

As a former election official I can imagine that it is hard for third-party sites to keep up with frequent changes. 

I understand the temptation to keep polling place info under wraps, but it’s wrong. In PA IIRC Gov. Rendell tried to hide that information at some point when there was widespread fear of terrorist attacks. He reversed course when persuaded that polling place locations are public information under law (in PA anyway) and must be public information.

I don’t know about OK law, and IANAL in any case, but there may be legal levers to push, either under an open records law or by candidates and campaigns, who surely have a right to that information one way or another.

Good luck!

—Stephanie

On May 11, 2020, at 12:08 PM, David Glover <davidh...@gmail.com> wrote:

Almost all the major voting and election sites seem to be now redirecting any polling location inquiries to the State Board of Elections.  Also, our state (Oklahoma) is now much more resistant to providing the address information for polling locations.  Does anyone know about this possible national change in philosophy and policy?  I guess some sites did not keep up with changes and it may have caused confusion?

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[David Glover]

Ahh good info.  It is such a global change of policy by almost every voting and election help site it seems something is going on.

On Monday, May 11, 2020 at 11:24:27 AM UTC-5, Stephanie Singer wrote:

David,

As a former election official I can imagine that it is hard for third-party sites to keep up with frequent changes. 

I understand the temptation to keep polling place info under wraps, but it’s wrong. In PA IIRC Gov. Rendell tried to hide that information at some point when there was widespread fear of terrorist attacks. He reversed course when persuaded that polling place locations are public information under law (in PA anyway) and must be public information.

I don’t know about OK law, and IANAL in any case, but there may be legal levers to push, either under an open records law or by candidates and campaigns, who surely have a right to that information one way or another.

Good luck!

—Stephanie

On May 11, 2020, at 12:08 PM, David Glover <davidh...@gmail.com> wrote:

Almost all the major voting and election sites seem to be now redirecting any polling location inquiries to the State Board of Elections.  Also, our state (Oklahoma) is now much more resistant to providing the address information for polling locations.  Does anyone know about this possible national change in philosophy and policy?  I guess some sites did not keep up with changes and it may have caused confusion?

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