Registrar pulls back relocation to Quail Run after venue is listed for sale

APPOMATTOX — The Oakville voting precinct will keep its polling place at the Oakville Ruritan Club after the Board of Supervisors agreed May 18 to reverse an earlier decision to move it to the Quail Run wedding venue.

Registrar Patricia Morton asked the board to rescind the relocation after learning, during early voting at the last election, that the Quail Run venue is now for sale. Morton said the property owner was not eager to sell and was willing to honor her commitments, but that the uncertainty made the site too risky for a polling place.

The board voted to direct the county attorney to schedule a public hearing at its June 15 meeting to reenact the prior ordinance and keep the precinct at the Oakville Ruritan Club. Under Virginia law, the county attorney explained, counties — unlike towns — can change such ordinance language only after a public hearing and public notice.

Morton said the original reason for considering the move, inadequate parking at the Ruritan Club, had since been addressed by county improvements to the lot. “The parking is much better there, which was one of our primary concerns,” she said, thanking the board for the work.

No money had been spent on the transition, Morton said. She had begun informing voters during early voting that the polling place would move; that messaging will be corrected with signage directing voters back to the Ruritan Club.

Morton said the decision was not necessarily permanent. “It’s not necessarily forever,” she told the board, “but we’re not comfortable with doing it at this time”

The June public hearing will give residents a chance to comment before the board formally restores the Oakville polling place.