Township to consolidate voting precincts

Bloomfield Township will consolidate its 32 voting precincts to just 18 for the March 10, 2020 election and beyond, under changes approved by the township's board of trustees on Monday, January 6. Bloomfield Township Clark Jan Roncelli said the changes will enable voters to more easily access polling locations and reduce any chances for mistakes. The township had temporarily consolidated precincts in 2018 and 2019. "We have had to move polling locations many times," she said. "What I looked at and what I talked about to the election commission in the past couple years was my goal to redo these precincts so we would have one school district in each precinct." Roncelli said prior to consolidation, there were 11 precincts that included more than one school district. "That makes it extremely challenging when it comes to a general election and you have a school election," Roncelli said. "If you have two different school districts, you have to have two different ballots. It becomes very difficult to monitor that and there is room for error... when we get to the March 10, 2020 election, we would have six ballot styles in each of the precincts that have two school districts." Roncelli said the other reason for the change was that an overall consolidation was needed, which she said has worked successfully in recent years. The board unanimously approved the changes. Voters will be notified of the precinct changes, and the township will include a link on its website to help voters find their voting precincts.