Controversial Early Voting Site Change Amended

A controversial proposal by the Montgomery County Board of Elections to drop two early voting center sites has been modified, by the move isn’t appeasing opponents to the change.

Last month the board proposed eliminating early voting at the Jane E. Lawton Community Recreation Center in Bethesda and the Marilyn J. Praisner Community Recreation Center in Burtonsville.

Opponents, largely Democrats, said the move away from two voting sites with easy access to public transit, would make voting harder for thousands of residents.

The early voting centers would be moved to less populated areas of Brookeville and Potomac, Montgomery Community Media reports.

But board of elections president James Shalleck has now scheduled a special board meeting for 5 p.m. Wednesday at the county election offices in Gaithersburg to recommend that the Marilyn Praisner Community Recreation Center in Burtonsville be retained as an early voting site. Shalleck still supports the switch to the Potomac site, replacing the Bethesda location, reports The Washington Post.

The Maryland Board of Elections is supposed to review Montgomery County’s nine early voting locations on Thursday, the Post says. The remaining sites are in Silver Spring, Rockville, Germantown, Gaithersburg, Damascus, Wheaton and Aspen Hill.