Warren Countians will be able to cast their ballots at State Street Baptist Church in Kentucky’s 2023 general election.

The Warren County Board of Elections unanimously approved its vote plan for the fall on Wednesday, adding the historic church to its list of voting centers to bring the number of available sites to a dozen.

County Clerk Lynette Yates said that parking access at and around the church, plentiful interior space and a first-floor layout accessible to all voters sold her on the voting site.

The addition to the election plan came after the Warren County Voting Project, a group of community members pushing for the establishment of more voting centers, submitted a request to the board to add 14 more spots for November. That list was later pared down to seven sites.

The Voting Project cited a “voter participation crisis” as the reason behind its ask, pointing to voter turnout figures following Warren County’s 2020 switch from a precinct system to one in which persons from anywhere within its borders can vote at a handful of established voting centers.

The board responded to the request, stating that it had found no evidence that the voting center model had any bearing on low turnout in the May 2023 primary election, but it offered to add an additional site and take voters to the polls by trolley.

Dr. Saundra Ardrey, NAACP political action committee chair and associate professor of political science at Western Kentucky University, said that historically disenfranchised voter groups are “struggling with access.”

The Voting Project’s initial proposal called for several new locations to be added in the Second District to target young voters, disabled voters and voters of color who may not have the means to travel to established sites.

“I want to make it clear that we are excited to work with the county clerk, and we appreciate her willingness to listen to some of the voices in the community,” Ardrey said. “We are glad that she listened, but not super excited with the limitation of one (site).”

Yates said she and her staff are limited in how many centers they can operate due to a lack of machinery and locales that fit an Election Day schedule.

She told Voting Project members in a previous meeting on Monday that the county has 55 election printers on order, but they most likely will not arrive in time for Nov. 7.

“Right now, we do not have the equipment (or) the resources to open more and more sites,” Yates said. “As far as what we have right now, we are at maximum capacity for what we have. That being said, we feel like this is a great plan.”

Yates said the board is looking to remove the voting center at the Warren County Co-op and add three more voting locations in 2024 to bring the total to 14, with one of those proposed sites at Henry F. Moss Middle School. She said a 15th site, located in the Third District, may be on the docket for the 2026 elections.

She said consistency will be the key for new sites.

“We can’t just keep changing and adding and doing. We need to get to where we would like to be and then that will be our vote plan from that point forward,” Yates said.

Election board member Jack Thomas voted “yes” to the election plan, but said he had been asked by Jeanie Smith, chairperson of the Warren County Democratic Executive Committee, to vote “no.”

“We believe the current plan does not provide enough locations within the city, therefore disenfranchising voters in some of the most densely populated areas,” Smith wrote in an email shared by Thomas during the meeting.

Thomas said he has worked diligently to add election sites, and a “no” vote would be going against “everything I’ve tried to do, which is add sites.”

Pending approval by the state, in-person Election Day voting will be held at State Street Baptist Church, Ephram White Park, Living Hope Baptist Church, Michael O. Buchanon Park, Cumberland Trace Elementary, Phil Moore Park, Sugar Maple Square, Warren Central High School, the Warren County Cooperative Extension, Eastwood Baptist Church, First Baptist Church and Smiths Grove United Methodist Church from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Nov. 7.

Early voting will be held at Ephram White Park, Living Hope Baptist Church, Michael O. Buchanon Park, Phil Moore Park and Sugar Maple Square from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 2-4.

Ardrey said that Voting Project members understand that Yates is working with limited resources.

“So we’re willing to work with her to get those resources, write grants to get extra money to help the fiscal court out,” Ardrey said.

“One additional (center) at State Street is much appreciated, but it does not go far enough. This is a process and the process is just beginning.”