Bingo night causes Manatee County to lose voting location

When almost 4,000 West Bradenton residents head to the polls in the next election, they will be going somewhere new as their polling location has to change.

Due to Tuesday’s bingo night, the American Legion Kirby Stewart Post 24 will no longer serve as Precinct 315’s place to vote, according to Mike Bennett, Manatee County’s supervisor of elections.

“That’s a first one for me,” Bennett said of the bingo night conflict. “We used the location year after year after year. We truly understand that that might be their most profitable day.”

According to the post’s website, bingo, which recently went digital, takes place at 2000 75th St. W., Bradenton, from 6-8 p.m. Tuesdays and 1-3 p.m. Wednesdays. Officials from the American Legion Kirby Stewart Post 24 couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Monday about the bingo night conflict.

While Bennett was appreciative of the years that the American Legion served as a polling location, he said the news came as a surprise.

“I think it’s a shame when we lose someone like an American Legion hall,” he said. “I understand they have a business to run as well. ... We want to thank them for certainly being there year after year.”

With another precinct voting site, Bradenton Elks Lodge #1511, located across the street, Bennett is looking for another location on 75th Street West to avoid long lines at the Elks.

“You want to have enough precincts so you don’t have long lines,” he said.

As of now, it seems the next election in Manatee County will be in August 2018, which Bennett said gives him “a little bit of time” to find a replacement location.

“We’ve gone all over the place trying to find something out there,” he said.

The Supervisor of Elections Office is seeking the replacement venue, which must be accessible to the handicapped.

“Depending on the issues to be voted on, the location will be needed two times every four years for presidential elections and a few times in between for state and local elections,” Bennett wrote in a letter to the editor of the Bradenton Herald.

In the meantime, Manatee County’s Supervisor of Elections Office will continue the vote-by-mail push.

“More and more people are voting by mail,” Bennett said. “We are continuing to push it.”

To find out more, call the Supervisor of Elections Office at 941-741-3823.

This story was originally published August 7, 2017 at 3:02 PM with the headline "Bingo night causes Manatee County to lose voting location."