By NICOLE CARTRETTE

Out with the old and in with the new.

It’s a philosophy that doesn’t sit well with some Columbus County voters.

In 2003, precinct lines were redrawn at the request of the state Board of Elections in conjunction with the U.S. Census Bureau and legislative services for data collection purposes, leaving some voters separated from precincts where they had voted for more than 40 years.

At the request of upset voters and board of election members, Sen. R.C. Soles Jr. and Rep. Dewey Hill introduced companion bills in the Senate and House last week that, if passed into law during the short session, will get voters back to their traditional voting precincts before the Nov. 7 general election.

The proposals do not affect districts and permit the Columbus County Board of Elections to use traditional precinct lines along the boundary of the Black Creek School District and place all residents of the Town of Lake Waccamaw in the same precinct.

Several voters want to vote at their old polling sites, Columbus County Board of Elections Director Carla Strickland said.

Many voters within the Town of Lake Waccamaw, along Waccamaw Shores and Bella Coola roads, were moved outside of the Waccamaw precinct and assigned to Bogue and Bolton precincts in 2003.

Some drive through their old precinct to the new one, Strickland pointed out.

The new precinct lines create problems and require additional work, she added.

“Requesting voters to go to one precinct one year for a municipal election and to another precinct on years during general elections can be confusing,” she said.

“We want to encourage greater voter turnout and make precincts accessible to voters,” she said.

Federal and state election laws do not allow local authorities to move the lines, Strickland indicated as she sorted through a thick folder full of research.

“We wanted to get this legislation in the short session in order to rectify the problem before the general election,” Strickland said.

“It is a local bill with no opposition that we hope to ‘fly through’ because it is time sensitive,” Hill explained. “I am almost sure we will get it passed.”

In 1943 a local act moved Black Creek School District residents from Williams Township –now Williams precincts 1 and 2 –into the South Williams precinct served by a Tabor City polling site.

The 2003 precinct changes divided those voters back into the Williams 1 and 2 precincts –meaning voters no longer could cast their ballots at the Tabor City Courthouse. Instead, they must vote at the Williams 1 precinct polling location, Roseland Fire Department or Williams 2 precinct polling location, Lebanon United Methodist Church.

Rather than voting at the Lake Waccamaw Fire Department, residents in the Town of Lake Waccamaw on Waccamaw Shores Road were placed in the Bogue precinct with polling at Hallsboro Fire Department.

Voters along Bella Coola Road in Lake Waccamaw were placed in the Bolton precinct with polling at the Bolton Fire Department.

Senate bill 1792, filed May 23, and House bill 2716, filed May 24, have been referred to local government committees.