New polling locations to affect Cleveland voters, emergency polling site change

The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections (BOE) has announced an emergency voting location change ahead of the May 6 election. 

Voters in Cleveland Ward 3, Precinct M will have a new voting location at the Murtis Taylor Human Services Center. The center is located at 13411 Union Ave., Cleveland, Ohio 44120. Ward 3 includes Ohio City, parts of downtown, Tremont, and the Stockyards.

The previous voting location at the Quinn Chapel has been closed due to maintenance issues. All 929 affected voters are receiving letters notifying them of the change. 

Even if you are not impacted by the emergency voting location change, the recent reduction of wards in the City of Cleveland, contracting from 17 wards to 15 wards, has impacted several other voting locations.

New maps were drawn for Cleveland after the ward reduction and the BOE staff then went through all 254 precincts to assign registered voters their current polling locations. 

Registered voters have been mailed a voting location notification letter and each household will receive a voter guide that identifies their voter location and precinct assignment. 

The BOE sent out a news release regarding the polling location changes prior to the May 6 election, said Mike West, manager of community outreach at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections. 

According to West, the BOE hopes voter awareness will increase participation in next month’s primary election. Mailings and media coverage are used to not only remind voters of the election, but also to confirm their current voting location. 

“We are using the election to remind everyone they should always go online or call us to confirm their voting locations,” West said in an email to The Land. 

As for mail-in ballots, the reassignment of polling locations does not impact them at all.

“When you vote-by-mail, you never go to the wrong place to vote,” West said. “Same thing is true for early in-person voting.”

Mail-in voters can drop their ballots off at their local post office, or at the ballot drop box in the back of the Board of Elections building located at 2925 Euclid Ave. 

For more information and to find an online map of each ward and its polling locations, follow this link.