While Mt. Laurel Police continue investigating a threat made on Parkway Elementary School during the primary election day on June 2, township officials are focusing their efforts on moving elections out of the schools.
Township clerk Meredith Tomczyk confirmed the township is compiling a list of alternate locations to try to move polling places out of school buildings and into other suitable venues.
Tomczyk said she is looking at various buildings and is in the process of contacting those places to see if they’d be willing to be used as a polling place.
“I’ve reached out to the various locations we’d like to move it to,” Tomczyk said.
Mt. Laurel Schools make up the majority of polling locations in the township. Fifteen of the township’s 27 voting districts have their polling location in a Mt. Laurel school. Every active school building except for Springville Elementary and Hartford School are used as a polling location. Some of the locations used for the other 12 districts include the Mt. Laurel Library, Mt. Laurel Community Center, Mt. Laurel EMS Building and fire district headquarters.
The township decided to make a push to move polling locations out of schools following an incident during the June 2 primary election at Parkway Elementary School. At approximately 9 a.m., Parkway was put on lockdown and voting was suspended after a man called the school saying he was inside the building with a gun. Law enforcement officials did a search of the school. No gun or suspect were found.
While the threat was not found to be credible, township and school district officials agreed about the security issues hosting elections in the schools present.
The Mt. Laurel school district has tried to get polling places removed from the schools in the past. Marie Reynolds, director of communications for Mt. Laurel Schools, said the district looked at the issue after an incident during the 2004 election at Fleetwood Elementary School. A person wearing a hooded sweatshirt walked into the school’s all-purpose room, where the polls were located, threw a bag of white powder on the floor and ran away. While the powder was later found to be not harmful, the entire school had to be evacuated and hazmat teams called to inspect the scene.
After the incident, the board of education made a decision to go before the Burlington County Board of Elections to try to get polling places moved out of the district.
“Our Board of Education formed a special committee to study other locations in Mt. Laurel where people could vote,” Reynolds said.
A study was presented to the board of elections in early 2005. Despite the board of education’s efforts, the board of elections denied the request to move polling places.
Since the Fleetwood incident, Mt. Laurel Schools have done a number of things to improve security. Schools are now closed on the general election day. The district has previously used the primary election day as a staff in-service, but decided to make it a school day a few years ago after receiving complaints from parents.
To improve safety on primary election days, the polling locations have been strategically placed so voters have no contact with students.
“We isolated the voting in areas closed off from the rest of the school,” Reynolds said.
Despite this, Reynolds noted the threat at Parkway could have easily been credible with adults coming in and out of the building throughout the day. She said many parents contacted the school district on June 2 and the days following in support of moving the polling locations.
“We totally understand when parents say ‘I have to show my driver’s license when I pick my child up and you’re allowing an adult to come into the school to vote,’” Reynolds said.
It is possible for the polls to be moved out of the schools in time for November’s general election. Tomczyk said once a list of new locations is compiled, it will be sent to council for approval before a formal request is made with the county board of elections. The board has the final say as to whether the polling locations can be changed.
“If (the board of elections) approves it at their September meeting, the polling locations can change in time for November,” Tomczyk said.
