The Goochland Electoral Board is looking into whether the Manakin Precinct needs a second polling place.

On Nov. 4, during the latest presidential election, unprecedented morning crowds clogged roads and hundreds of voters lined up early.

“It’s just that everyone decided to come in the morning,” said Shirley Christian, chair of the Electoral Board.

As poll closing time approached at Dover Church, voting had slowed to a trickle.

Nevertheless, the Board of Supervisors asked the electoral board to search for an additional site for District 5—to be used if it was decided to split the precinct.

Electoral Board secretary Herb Griffith agreed that the crush in the morning was caused by the media hyping the expected heavy turnout.

“Folks were driven to vote early by the media,” Griffith maintained. “I don’t see the necessity of splitting the precinct.”

But Electoral Board vice president Robin Lind said he favors splitting the precinct.

“I think it would be a whole lot safer,” said Lind, who described a chaotic situation at Dover Church, at the start of the Nov. 4 voting day.

“At the opening it was extremely dangerous,” said Lind, who said that although polls didn’t open until 6:00 a.m., voters had lined up before 5 a.m.

According to Lind, the Dover Church parking lot was full, and cars were parked on both sides of the road, from Five Forks to Route 6.

Lind, who said he called 911 at 6:10 a.m., passed out flashlights to volunteers to help control traffic.

A sheriff’s deputy dispatched to the precinct had to park on Route 6 and hike up to the church, said Lind.

Lind said that Hope Church would prove dangerous because of its location near the entrance to West Creek on Route 6, where cars would have to pull in and out into traffic traveling at 55 miles per hour.

Another location under consideration is the Collegiate Schools’ athletic facility on Blair Road.

“If a second polling place is helpful, I’m for it,” said District 5 supervisor James W. Eads, who said he did not buy into the idea that the media was responsible for causing the early morning crush at Manakin precinct.

“This election just caught people’s interest,” said Eads. “Thank God people got out and voted.”

Eads said Hope Church remains a possibility, but that the Collegiate facility was not adequate because Blair Road is too narrow.

Last Monday all members of the electoral board met at the Blair Road site to talk with Collegiate Schools’ president, Keith Evans, and vice president for development, Alex Smith.

Lind measured Blair Road at the entrance to the Collegiate facility and found it to be 44 feet wide. Along the two-lane section the road measured 19 feet wide, roughly the same width as Dover Road, said Lind.

The center has a large field house, which could serve as a polling place, and more than 150 parking places.

“We’re happy to make it available,” said Evans.

And, “From a reasonable man’s view it would be a natural,” said Griffith.

Bolstering the argument against splitting the precinct, both Eads and Griffith said the General Assembly may take up the idea of early voting in the spring, which would help alleviate the problem.

“The Board of Supervisors is on record supporting this,” said Griffith.

Griffith and Lind also made note of the fact that redistricting is scheduled for 2010, and so if a new polling place were created now, there could be two changes in polling places within three years.

“We shouldn’t do it unless we absolutely have to,” said Griffith.