Since 1999 voters have been crowding into the Douglas County Election Commissoner's Office near 114th and Davenport. As the county continues to grow and more people register to vote, election commissioner Brian Kruse says the time has come to move into a new building.
"When we moved into our current facility in 1999 we had 272,000 registered voters in Douglas County. Today, we have nearly 359,000," Kruse told Douglas County Board members on Tuesday.
He says with that many more people voting in this past election latest election they can't keep up in the current building. Commissioners received final details regarding the relocation of the office to the northwest corner of Bel Air Plaza near 120th and West Center Road.
“Our office has been in conversation with Douglas County leaders for some time, working together to identify a space that will allow the Election Commission to better serve voters,” Kruse says.
The proposed location will provide voters, like Pat Halliger, a better experience through easier access, additional parking spaces and more square footage for staff to serve voters.
"Once you get up to the counter there's not enough room there's not enough room for the people that need to be there to help and you can overhear everything. It's not very private if you have some questions."
Ann Chalson with the League of Women's Voters voiced her support for the change of location. "The office is hard to find and not in a convenient location. Once you do find it, the parking lot is full and there's very little additional parking nearby."
There are currently 35-40 parking spaces at the current location. Kruse says that would increase to more than 200 spaces at the new site.
The Board will vote on this matter at next week's meeting.