Supervisors to hear report on voting center updates

The Yuma County Board of Supervisors will hear a report on updated processes, improvement centers and Voting Center staffing for the Nov. 8 election when it meets Monday, possibly considering adding a new voting location.

Residents who recall long wait times for the last presidential election in 2012 have suggested adding a 10th voting center for the county, according to a report from County Recorder Robyn Stallworth Poquette. The high-profile presidential race, a sales tax increase on the Yuma ballot and the statewide minimum wage and recreational marijuana could all drive higher voter turnout this time, she said.

But she said changes made since 2012 to remedy the problems that came up four years ago, which included a high number of provisional ballots, a printer failure, a lack of on-duty IT support and inadequate staffing for what was then 11 voting centers.

Poquette is recommending adding touch screens to the nine existing vote centers and increasing voter education, which she said is easier and less costly than trying to add another one in the five weeks left before the election. But she said she has also begun to look for a possible 10th location in the northern part of the city of Yuma, if the board wants to go that direction.

The meeting will begin 9 a.m. Monday in the Board of Supervisors auditorium, 198 S. Main St., Yuma. Other items on the agenda include:

• Appointment of Levi Gunderson and Pamela Walsma as judges pro tempore for Yuma County Superior Court.

• Proclamation of Oct. 2-8 as Yuma County 4-H Week and October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.