Schools, City Clerk Seek Change of 3 Ward Polling Places

More than 5,000 thousand voters in three of Wauwatosa's old-line neighborhoods will be asked to change longtime voting habits, at the request of the School District.

On behalf of School Superintendent Phil Ertl, City Clerk Carla Ledesma goes before the city's Community Development Committee on Tuesday night with a request to move three ward poll locations out of two schools.

Wards 2 and 3, of District 1, would move from Washington Elementary School, 2177 N. 67th St., to the Wauwatosa Woman's Club, 1626 Wauwatosa Ave.

Ward 13, of District 5, would move from Longfellow Middle School, 7600 W. North Ave., across the street to the Firefly Room in the Wauwatosa Public Library.

In both cases, the changes would create the interesting situation of putting voters' polling places just outside their home wards and districts.

For Ward 13 voters, the change isn't far but adds "having to cross North Avenue" to the equation. The Library is in Ward 1, District 1. Ward 13 is north of North Avenue and straddles Wauwatosa Avenue for several blocks on each side.

Voters in wards 2 and especially 3 will have a somewhat longer hike to make to their polls if the change is approved. Ward 3 comprises mostly the Washington Highlands and also 10 city blocks immediately north of the Highlands. Ward 2 is just to the west and is home to Washington Elementary.

The Woman's Club is 16 blocks west of Ward 3's eastern boundary on 60th Street and more than a mile from the furthest corner of the ward at 60th and North Avenue. The Woman's Club is also just outside those wards' home District, in Ward 5 of the 2nd District.

The changes come at the polite urging of the School District because of growing school security concerns here and nationwide.

Ertl has asked Ledesma, the city official responsible for elections, to consider removing polling places from schools wherever possible and practicable because it opens up the schools all Election Day.

In some schools, the polling places can be somewhat isolated from the voting public – and any potential interlopers from the outside – but in many there is no convenient way to do so.

As of now, 18 of 24 Wauwatosa polls are sited in school buildings. Two city wards vote at Washington, Wilson, Jefferson, Roosevelt, McKinley and Madision elementary schools, and at West High School. At Underwood Elementary, three wards go to the polls.

In each case, from 2,000 to more than 3,000 people might enter those schools for a high-turnout election.

This isn't the first move of a polling place from a school. Beginning last year, the longtime polling place for Wauwatosa's oldest neighborhood – the 1st Ward, including the Wauwatosa Avenue Historic District north of the Village – was removed from Wauwatosa East High to Fire Station No. 1.

Ledesma said in a memo to the Community Development Committee that postcards would be mailed to 5,300 registered voters in the three wards informing them of the change, if approved.

That and other expenses, including plastic runners to protect the carpet in the Library, will cost the city about $3,000 to make the changes, Ledesma said.