Change a Precinct's Normal Polling Place

The normal polling place is essentially a precinct's permanent polling place. It's the physical location where the precinct normally votes. If you change a precinct's normal polling place, the precinct will be assigned to vote at the new normal polling place for all elections from today going forward. Changing a precinct's normal polling place gives you the option of scheduling the precinct's voters for voter information cards with the new polling place information.

If you have precinct splits within a precinct, the precinct splits are automatically moved with the precinct. You do not need to move precinct splits separately. However, when you print the updated cards from PRINTING > Notices Queue, be sure to select all precinct splits within the moved precinct.

If the precinct provides an election board for another precinct, any change to the providing precinct's normal polling place are automatically applied to the sharing precinct.

For a specific election, you can temporarily move the precinct to another polling place, but the precinct will remain at its normal polling place for all other elections. See Change a Precinct's Polling Place for a Single Election for more information on temporary changes.

  1. Ensure that the election is the focused election. If not, click Change Election Status on the Console and select the election.
  2. Go to ELECTIONS > Place Maintenance and select the polling place that is to become the precinct's new polling place.
  3. On the Places Maintenance dialog, click the Precincts tab.
  4. Click Add Precinct to open the Select Precincts dialog.
  5. In the Precincts Not Selected pane, double-click the precinct you want to move into this polling place. The precinct ID is moved to the Precincts Selected pane.
  6. Click OK. You are prompted to confirm the scheduling of updated voter information cards.
  7. Click Yes. This automatically schedules the printing of voter information cards with the new polling place information for the voters in the precinct you moved.

You will see the ID for the newly moved precinct listed on the Precincts tab. (You don't need to click Save because the database was already updated with the new precinct assignment.)

After changing the precinct's polling place, voter information cards with the new polling place information should be sent to voters in the affected precinct. We assume that for most counties, this is done as a mass mailing run through an outside printing house. If this is true for your county, see Voter Card Export Files for instructions.

If your county prints the cards in-house, take the following steps to produce them:

The voter card file includes all database fields selected for the document defined as Voter Card. Check the form layout of this document to be sure that all preferred fields are included.

  1. To access the form layout, go to PRINTING > Document Maintenance and select the Voter Card document.
  2. On the Document Maintenance dialog, click Form Layout.

  3. If you use any of the fields named VCrdMsg, ensure that a message for each field is defined in VOTER FOCUS ADMIN > System Options > VIC Options.

  4. Verify that the precinct or polling place information is correct and complete. Consider adding a message line that draws voters' attention to the polling place change.

  1. Go to PRINTING > Notices Queue. In the Notice Type column, double-click Voter ID Card.

  2. On the Precincts for Voter Registration Card dialog, select the affected precincts and click OK.

  3. On the Print Notice Run Parameters dialog, if your county requires that mailings be sorted, select an option in the Sort Option box. For mass mailings, the Zip Code option is typically selected. Click OK.

  4. Enter a date for the last registration date of cards to be printed. Typically, this is the book closing date for the election. Click OK.

    5. The Select Notices Reasons dialog displays the default messages you set up in Voter Focus Admin (see the procedure above). For this voter card run, the messages shown here can be changed or amended if you want. For example, if the cards are going to voters whose normal polling place has changed, you might add a line drawing attention to this fact.

  5. In the box labeled Select the Reasons you want printed, select the check box next to Polling Place Changed and click OK.

  6. If you selected a zip code sort, Voter Focus displays a count of the cards by zip code. Click OK.

  7. Select the printer, print the cards, and verify they printed correctly.

  8. Click Update to make an entry in each voter's record indicating an updated voter information card was sent.