Allegheny County considers moving polling place from Chartiers Valley school building

Allegheny County elections officials might move a polling place from Chartiers Valley Intermediate School to another location in Scott Township, a county spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Chartiers Valley School Board on Sept. 12 sent a letter to the county requesting that the Intermediate School, located off Swallow Hill Road in Scott, not be used as a polling place for the Nov. 5 general election or any future elections.

In the letter, district officials say that using the school “negatively impacts our ability to operate effectively and educate our students,” and that they have fielded complaints and concerns regarding “traffic, decorum, movement of students in and out of the school and safety.”

Allegheny County Spokeswoman Abigail Gardner said the county has been in contact with Chartiers Valley and is looking for an alternative location.

The Intermediate School is the only district building used as a polling place. It accomodates voters from Scott Township’s Ward 5, District 2; and Ward 9, District 2. There are a total of 1,050 registered voters there, Gardner said.

State election code requires election divisions to use public schools when possible, but the county tries to accommodate the schools and move, if asked, Gardner said.

“If elections cannot find another suitable location in time, we have invoked our right to use a school and have gotten a court order to allow us to proceed,” she said.

The county most recently invoked that right in last year’s special election in the Penn Hills School District, Gardner said.

People will be notified via mailers if their polling place is moved. Voters also can view their polling location by clicking the “Find Your Polling Place” link on pavoterservices.pa.gov.

“Barring an emergency, we want to be able to inform voters 10 days before an election if their polling place moved, so we need to know weeks in advance if someone wants to request a move,” Gardner said. “Emergencies do happen though and then we just adjust as needed.”

Gardner said it’s not uncommon for polling places to move. For example, Allegheny County moved about 60 precincts in this year’s primary, April 23, due to the day falling on the Jewish observance of Passover.

The Allegheny County elections division uses 123 schools and district buildings to host 283 precincts across 29 school districts, Gardner said.

Three Keystone Oaks School District elementary schools — Dormont, Fred L. Aiken, and Myrtle Avenue — are used as designated as polling locations for the November election, said district spokeswoman Sarah Welch.

Keystone Oaks does not have in-person instruction on election day.

“Typically, the November election falls around the end of the first quarter of the school year, and that day is used for parent-teacher conferences,” Welch said.

To ensure safety, the district employs armed police officers at each school building on Election Day, she said.

Seven schools in the North Allegheny School District serve as polling places, said district spokesman Randy Gore.

“Students will not have school on that day,” Gore said. “Election Day is part of our in-service calendar.”

At North Allegheny, polling places are separated from the rest of the building with physical barriers, he said. The buildings are set up so that those coming in to vote will not have access to the rest of the school building.

Upper St. Clair’s Baker Elementary, and Boyce and Fort Couch middle schools, have been used as polling places for several years, said district Spokesperson Tina Vojtko.

“As part of the school calendar process, primary and general election days are planned as in-service days to avoid the unnecessary safety risk,” she said.