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WINDSOR

Windsor’s Town Council voted unanimously in April to move the polling location for town elections from the Windsor Volunteer Fire Department to the newly completed Windsor Town Center on Courthouse Highway (U.S. Route 258).

Isle of Wight County’s Board of Supervisors also voted unanimously that same month to make the Town Center the new polling location for Windsor residents in all county, state and national elections.

According to Isle of Wight County Voter Registrar Lisa Betterton, the change in polling location came about as a request to the Town Council and Board of Supervisors from the county’s Electoral Board.

“We’re trying to get out of the VFD buildings,” Betterton said, explaining that there is always a chance that the volunteer firefighters would need to respond to an emergency on election day.

She added that in Windsor specifically, voters had complained about having to turn on and off U.S. Route 460, which is a four-lane, two-way highway.

Betterton and Windsor Town Manager Michael Stallings both confirmed that the Electoral Board had discussed a potential issue with traffic, given that the Town Center is located on school property behind Georgie D. Tyler Middle School. However, Stallings said that traffic would likely only be high before and after work, at which times school would likely not be in session.

Stallings added that voting would take place in the Town Center’s conference room.

“We’ve talked to [county] Parks and Recreation staff; they won’t program anything for just the meeting room that day,” he said.