Students and downtown residents will now be able to vote in the Nov. 6 election and shop for groceries in the same building.
Madison’s city Council voted Tuesday to move a downtown district’s polling place from the fire station on West Dayton Street to the second floor of Fresh Madison Market at 703 University Avenue.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said he has been frustrated with using the fire station as a polling place because of its distance away from the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.
“My biggest concern has always been that we’re frankly disenfranchising the majority of the voters that live in that area because a majority of them are clearly all UW students,” Verveer said.
District 4 encompasses much of the downtown and includes student housing areas such as University Avenue, West Gorham, West Johnson and State Streets.
“I hope that in a small way...[the new location] will encourage voting and will improve the voter turnout,” Verveer said.
