SIDNEY — Voters in Cynthian Township will be be casting their votes in a new location beginning with the November general election.

The Shelby County Board of Elections — during its Monday meeting — approved the change of location from the Newport Sportsmens Club to the Cynthian Township trustees facility.

“The Newport Sportsmen requested they no longer be a polling place,” said Chairman Chris Gibbs. “We agreed to respect their wishes.

“Myself, Pam (Kerrigan) and Merrill (Asher) visited with the trustees and looked at their new township house’s garage. We toured the township offices and that’s not conducive to being a polling location. But the township garage would work,” said Gibbs.

The garage, he said, is open and has heat and electricity. The restrooms are located in the township house. While not ADA accessible, that’s not a requirement for voters, he continued. “It does have to be ADA for the poll workers.”

Parking at the township house will be adequate to handle the voters coming to the precinct to vote. Gibbs said there will be 9 to 11 poll workers at the location as two precincts will be located there.

Gibbs said the trustees have a good relationship with the businesses and neighbors located near the township house and feel the poll workers could park their vehicles at those locations.

“The trustees are agreeable to taking over the polling location,” said Gibbs.

Kerrigan, who is the board of elections director, contacted the prosecutor’s office to have a contract drawn up for the new agreement. Trustees signed the agreement at their July 2 meeting.

“We will provide tables and chairs (on election day),” said Kerrigan. “they (trustees) have been more than helpful to do their part to make this work.”

Gibbs said the presiding judges, Kerrigan and the trustees will meet prior to election day to determine how the setup for the day.

The contract will also include when the board of elections will need the building, along with who will have the key each day to unlock it for precinct workers.

Asher voiced his concerns about the new contract.

“We’re making this a real legal document versus what we’ve done in the past,” he said of the four line agreement dealing with voting locations. “I’m afraid we’ll scare some of the locations from wanting to be polling locations.”

Donnie Chupp, assistant director, said he serves on his church’s board of directors “and we receive legal documents” like this all the time.

The standardized contract will be used in the future with all groups who provide polling locations on election day.

In other business, the board:

• Discussed the meeting held with the presiding judges and rovers. It was agreed there would be more hands-on training for them prior to the November election.

• Discussed the summer conference. Cyber security was one of the main topics of discussion at the conference.

“We’re fortunate here that we’re committed to paper ballots,” said Gibbs. “If there’s a recount question, we can go back to the paper ballot.”

Boards were also encouraged to establish social media accounts, which will be verified by the secretary of the state’s office.

• Learned the Election Administration Plan has been filed. Changes to the plan included the requirement of voters showing a driver’s license or other identification on election day; e-pollbook specifications; and security at the board office.

• Reviewed the budget for the first six months of 2018.

• Learned Kerrigan is working on the flextime policy for the board.

• Received the statewide survey of director and deputy director salaries for the 88 counties in Ohio.

• Approved the payment of dues for the Ohio Association of Elected Officials. Dues are $900 per year.

• Discussed a proposal with Triad for remote ballot marking system. This will allow a person with disabilities to print, mark and return their ballot from a location other than a polling location. The proposal is for $5,670 for the first year set up and an annual maintenance fee of $1,067 for general elections and $1,400 for the primary election after the first year.

• Learned there will be cyber security training on July 31.

• Learned bills have been filed for audit.

The board’s next meeting will be Monday, Aug. 20, at 7:30 a.m.