19:8-2 Suggested list of available places, selection.

19:8-2. The clerk of every municipality, on or before April 1 shall certify to the county board of every county wherein such municipality is located a suggested list of places in the municipality suitable for polling places. The county board shall select the polling places for the election districts in the municipalities of the county for all elections in the municipalities thereof, including all commission government elections in the county. The county boards shall not be obliged to select the polling places so suggested by the municipal clerks, but may choose others where they may deem it expedient. Preference in locations shall be given to schools and public buildings where space shall be made available by the authorities in charge, upon request, if same can be done without detrimental interruption of school or the usual public services thereof, and for which the authority in charge shall be reimbursed, by agreement, for expenses of light, janitorial and other attending services arising from such use. Each polling place selected shall be accessible to individuals with disabilities and the elderly. A polling place shall be considered accessible if it is in compliance with the federal "Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990" (42 U.S.C. s. 12101 et seq.). In no case shall the authorities in charge of a public school or other public building deny the request of the county board for the use, as a polling place, of any building they own or lease.

Where the county board shall fail to agree as to the selection of the polling place or places for any election district, within five days of an election, the county clerk shall select and designate the polling place or places in any such election district.

The county board may select a polling place other than a schoolhouse or public building outside of the district but such polling place shall not be located more than 1,000 feet distant from the boundary line of the district. The Secretary of State may, however, permit a polling place to be more than 1,000 feet distant from the boundary line of the district if there is no suitable polling place accessible to individuals with disabilities and the elderly within the district or 1,000 feet distant from the boundary line of the district.

Whenever possible, the county board shall contact the managers or owners of commercial or private buildings that the board deems suitable to use as polling places, and are in or near an election district lacking an accessible polling place, to determine whether a portion of such a building may be used as a polling place on the day of an election. Reimbursement for the use of a portion of such a building shall be the same as provided by this section for schools and public buildings.

Neither the owner nor operator of a facility designated as a polling place by the county board is permitted or authorized to relocate the polling place room in the building without the express prior approval of the board.

amended 1938, c.280; 1946, c.11, ss.5,17 (1946, c.11, ss.5,17; repealed 1948, c.2, s.32); 1948, c.2, s.9; 1959, c.116; 1965, c.4, s.7; 1989, c.292; 2005, c.136, s.11; 2005, c.146, s.1; 2007, c.61, s.6; 2011, c.134, s.11.