Bring Back Original Polling Place
To the Editor,
I write to urge you, in the strongest possible terms, to return the polling place for the above address to its longtime location at Hill House (127 Mt. Vernon Street). Over the summer, it was moved to a new location in the State House basement (confusingly labelled “24 Beacon Street” but “clarified” as “Door #16 off Bowdoin Street through Ashburton Park”). My reasons for this request are as follows:
1. The new location is more than twice as far from my house as Hill House (0.4 miles v. 900 feet).
2. The new route requires a steep climb up Myrtle Street, whereas the former route to Hill House was mostly on flat ground.
3. Because the new location is in the State House, voters are required to go through a metal detector, and I therefore had to remove my wallet, cell phone, and belt. That should not be a requirement for voting!
4. Ironically, the route to the new location passes by a nearer polling place, at 19 Myrtle Street. The fact that that polling place is for a very different ward and precinct (Ward 3, Precinct 17!) demonstrates how irrational my assignment to this new polling place was.
In the current political climate, we read that government officials in other states are trying to make it more difficult voters to vote. In Boston, I doubt that this was your intent, but it certainly has been the effect. I hope you will do everything in your power to reverse this very unwise decision, which is particularly burdensome on elderly voters like me.
Thank you for taking care of this.
William T. Loomis