DC’s ridiculous precinct boundaries

Yesterday, I discovered that I live 50 steps from the entrance to a polling place. It’s just across the street and a couple buildings down. It’s even inside the boundary of my precinct. Unfortunately, I can’t actually vote there.

That’s because, even though the building is inside my precinct, it’s only the polling place for the adjacent precinct. Everyone from the west side of Dupont Circle (precinct 14) has to walk over to the east side of 18th to vote, but everyone on the east side of 18th (15) has to walk over to the opposite edge of their precinct on 16th.

This isn’t the only example; when I lived at 18th and Swann (precinct 141), the polling place was at the Reeves Center at 14th and U—in a different ward altogether. The Reeves Center is actually inside precinct 22, which covers the U Street area, but people living at, say, 15th and U have to go all the way to Garnet-Patterson Middle School at 10th and V.

Garnet-Patterson is at the opposite edge of its precinct (22), meaning people could live across the street from the school (in and have to schlep all the way to Garrison Elementary (12th and S) which isn’t even in their precinct (137) at all. Kalorama residents (precinct 13) have to vote at the very eastern edge of their neighborhood, while people on the east side of Florida Avenue have to go all the way to 18th and Church.

Plus, some of DC’s precincts are enormous. A huge precinct from Mount Vernon Square to Capitol Hill was finally carved into two. Having more precincts certainly costs money, so I can understand the need for some balance between convenience and cost. But we should at least draw boundaries to put polling places roughly in the middles of precincts and minimize the walking distance to a polling place.