Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Polling Place of the Past

An old precinct building in Christian County, KY



This little concrete-block building stands at the intersection of Pilot Rock Road and Laytonville Road in Christian County, KY. It was once the voting place for citizens of the surrounding rural area. Several local residents have told me that they remember voting in this building, years ago.

I believe this little block voting building served the Pilot Rock precinct. If I'm correct about that, then this is the building reported vandalized in the following news report from November 1976:

[Christian County Court Clerk Thomas E. Morris] explained that the only irregularities occurred at Precinct 27 at Consolation and at Precinct 30 at Pilot Rock where vandals launched an overnight attack on voting machines and buildings.

Damage to fuses and fuse boxes were reported at both locations, forcing officials to do emergency electrical repair work so that automatic machines would operate. There also was profanity scribbled on the walls [of] at least one of the voting sites.

Source: "Area Vote Total Said To Be Light" by Mike Herndon, Kentucky New Era, May 25, 1976, page 1

The Consolation precinct building, mentioned in the quoted report above, was located somewhere near the junction of Dawson Springs Road and Highway 800 in northwestern Christian County. A proposal for its construction was heard by the Christian Fiscal Court in 1973, so it was still quite new when the above incident occurred. I don't know if it is still in use or not.

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CONTENTMENT: Keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry, live simply, expect little, give much, sing often, pray always, forget self, think of others and their feelings, fill your heart with love, scatter sunshine. These are the tried links in the golden chain of contentment.
(Author unknown)

IT IS STILL BEST to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasure; and to be cheerful and have courage when things go wrong.
(Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1867-1957)

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