The San Diego Registrar of Voters has chosen The Center as a polling place for the Primary Election on March 2, 2004. Voting will take place that day in The Center’s auditorium, from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

The Center has not been used as a polling place in previous elections. However, they were chosen this year because of their central location and because it is an accessible building for people with disabilities.

“[I]t is something that we have been interested in doing for some time now and we are very excited to provide a polling place for local voters,” said AJ Davis DeFeo, director of public policy at The Center. “The Center strongly encourages voter registration and consistent patterns of voting among LGBT and fair-minded community members. We hope that being a polling place will be an additional, visual reminder that the LGBT and allied communities must become politically involved and must exercise their right to vote in order to move the civil rights movement forward. The fact that the LGBT community’s ‘town hall’ is a polling place is also a reminder to the LGBT and non-LGBT communities that we are a viable, important part of the San Diego community.”

New touch screen voting machines will be used for the first time in the upcoming election. DeFeo said that the entire nation is in the process of transitioning to the new voting machines, and San Diego has been chosen as one of the test sites. The touch screen machines will not be implemented nationwide until their accuracy has been tested in the March election.

The Center is currently training poll workers on how to use the new machines. Poll workers will be available to answer any questions voters have about the new process on Election Day.

All poll workers are paid for their time during the election, but have the option to donate their time if they choose, to save taxpayer dollars. An inspector is employed at every polling place, and is in charge of pick-up and delivery of supplies and setting up and breaking down the polling area. An assistant inspector works the polling place, and returns supplies and ballots to the collection center along with the inspector after the election is over. Clerks issue the ballots and instruct voters.

In preparation for the Primary Election, The Center is also looking for volunteers to help register voters in the community. “The Center is conducting an aggressive, non-partisan voter registration and Get Out The Vote project for this important election year,” DeFeo said. “We are collaborating with other agencies and groups to reach out to as many fair-minded eligible voters as possible. While strongly encouraging the Hillcrest and North Park areas to register and to develop consistent patterns of voting, we are also reaching out to other segments of the community to register voters.”

Volunteers are needed to register voters at schools, community locations and events, and in the workplace.

“This will be an ongoing effort and we definitely need additional volunteers to register voters,” DeFeo said. “Current volunteers have had a blast registering voters at Siren — a women’s open mic event — on campuses, at local bars and other community locations.”

Those interested in volunteering with The Center to help register voters should contact AJ Davis DeFeo at (619) 692-2077, ext. 212. Those who have not yet registered to vote must mail in their voter registration form by Saturday, Feb. 14. Applications for absentee ballots are due by Tuesday, Feb. 24. Voter registration forms and absentee ballot applications are available at The Center’s front desk, the Registrar of Voters, City Clerks’ offices, the DMV and all public libraries and U.S Post Offices. Visit www.gaylesbiantimes.com and click on this article for a link to register online.

The San Diego Branch NAACP, Malcolm X Library and GLBT VOTE 2004 are hosting free touch-screen voting machine demonstrations conducted by the County Registrar of Voters at the Malcolm X Library, 5148 Market St. on Saturday, Feb. 21 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 25 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. an$ Monday, Mar. 1 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. For more information, call (619) 582-5383.