When the City of Portland’s fiscal year ends on June 30 it could mark the end of polling places on Cliff Island and Great Diamond Island.
This is part of a $15,000 cost savings effort that will be voted on by the Portland City Council on July 21.
The proposal to reduce the number of polling places in Portland from 16 to 6 is not irreversible, but if it passes, the effect on the two small island communities could be.
City Clerk Linda Cohen acknowledges that the savings gained from each island polling place will be less than $1,500. However, the elimination of these small polling places raises concern amongst island residents about the future of their year round communities-
The impact on these island communities separated from the mainland by hours of ferry rides, is far greater than a similar closing in mainland Portland. Year-round island communities can be considered threatened, and this loss amounts to pulling away another thread from the fabric of their existence.
On Cliff and Great Diamond islands, the polling process brings poll workers, family, friends and neighbors together. People routinely bring food to share through the long day, and voters are likely to “catch up” with their neighbor’s latest doings.
Cliff Island resident Anna Dyer understands the need to control costs, but worries that the loss of the island’s polling place is a small step in the decline of the fragile year round community. Of course islanders can vote absentee for the cost of postage, and can study the ballot in the privacy of their homes. However, travel to Portland to vote is not as palatable. The idea of spending a four-hour round trip and the $11.50 ferry fare is a concern for many islanders.
Even so, many Cliff Islanders showed no strong feelings about the possible lost polling place. Chester Pettengill, a descendant of the earliest European residents, recalled that his grandfather voted in Portland in the early 1900s, then voted on Long Island and finally on Cliff Island after World War II; now things have come full circle.
Shorter polling hours could work on Cliff Island, but this is not allowed under current voting laws. Victoria Bernard expressed concern that voting opportunities might be lost for people who count on being reminded by the voting activity at the local level. She suggested that people with school children on the island could find it hard to leave the island for the early voting option, which is available during normal office hours.
Jennifer Fox, the current election warden for Great Diamond Island, thinks that there will be less voting by Great Diamond residents. “They won’t stand in long lines in Portland,” she said.
She commented that many people would still vote in presidential elections, but fewer would turn out for something like a school budget question. Both she and her husband, Rick Frantz, expressed regret that some sense of community will be lost. Manning the polling place on Great Diamond Island with volunteers wouldn’t be legal.
About 10 years ago, Beth Weber went to the City clerk and pointed out that there were enough voters on Great Diamond Island to justify a polling place. The city agreed, and Beth entered her mother’s name as the warden. Her mother later accepted the responsibility. Even with this interesting bit of history in her family, Weber’s response to the loss of Great Diamond’s polling place is that voting using an absentee ballot or in Portland is not difficult, and that she is comfortable with this change.
Linda Cohen, Portland’s City Clerk, was instructed to reduce the number of polling places in the city from 16 to six as part of the city’s overall plan to control the budget. This would reduce the approximate voting cost from about $40,000 to $25,000.
Cohen indicates that the decision to eliminate the polling places on Cliff Island and Great Diamond Island, but not on Peaks Island, was based upon the small numbers of people registered to vote on the former two islands (about 64 on Cliff and 110 on Great Diamond) compared to 863 on Peaks Island.
Cohen is interested in efforts to improve voting arrangements, and she attended island meetings to try to help with the change. She is trying to find a way to minimize the cost for islanders to get to a mainland polling place.
Early voting, which lets people cast ballots at City Hall before Election Day, has been tested in several Maine locations. Other possibilities such as the mail-in procedures used in Oregon are of interest. Cohen indicated that such changes would require modification of the Maine constitution.
If the council give final approval, the polling places are unlikely to be restored, according to Cohen.
Leo Carter is a Cliff Island resident