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Suffolk City Council unanimously approved an ordinance to amend the polling places for the White Marsh, Southside, Airport, and Lakeside precincts during their March 19, 2025 meeting. The decision followed a brief presentation and council discussion.

Deputy City Manager Kevin Hughes provided an overview of the proposed changes. He explained that the need for these amendments arose from communication from three existing polling places indicating they could no longer accommodate the elections. Additionally, one relocation was recommended due to size constraints.

The changes approved are:

Cypress Borough

• White Marsh Precinct Polling Place at New First Baptist Church, changed to Greater First Baptist Church Orlando

Whaleyville Borough

• Southside Precinct Polling Place at Faith Temple Ministry Christian Fellowship Center(623 Brook Ave.), change to Lakeview Missionary Baptist Church (635 Brook Ave)
• Airport Precinct Polling Place at Suffolk Executive Airport, change to Department of Public Utilities Field Operations (272 Benton Road)

Suffolk Borough

• Lakeside Precinct Polling Place at Suffolk Presbyterian Church, change to Morgan Memorial Library.

Hughes noted that the registrar and property owners had vetted the proposed sites.

During the discussion, Council Member John Rector expressed support for the motion but raised a concern regarding the new Lakeside Precinct location, the Morgan Memorial Library. “I’m in support of the motion and obviously, we plan on voting yes,” Rector said. “I just would like to point out that moving the Suffolk precinct from the Presbyterian Church to the Morgan Memorial Library on election day is not going to pose any of the problems that they had previously in terms of parking because I believe election day is now a holiday since it was moved from there. But [on] primary days, we’re going to need to have somebody take a look at potentially modifying the hours of the library or putting some restrictive parking signs up there because a lot of people use the library parking lot to access city hall, among other things. And I’ve talked with the head of that precinct and he’s shown me some pictures and whatnot of the parking lot being completely full on election day, but yet nobody in the voting area. So, it’s just a concern that I have about that particular change of precinct, but it’s not an insurmountable obstacle, and I think we can work to make it work.”

The motion for approval passed with a vote of 8 to zero.