I might agree with Mr Demeria if this were going to be the Presidential election with precincts seeing 3000+ voters and 2000+ additional cars driving around the schools, but for the primary and the expected turnout at about 1/10th of those numbers, it's not worth taking a day away from the student's schedule. Kudos to the rest of the board and their anti-alarmist attitude.

The board made the correct decision for the exact reason Mr. Forrest sited. My children are in Haydon ES and I know the faculty will ensure the safety of our children.

As a parent, my top priority is for my kids to be safe...I take no chances with this!! But when I asked my daughter (who has a big event that day) she said she would rather go to school so she could put on her play for the school. Tough decision.

I believe the best long term solution is for the polls to be moved to another location. I think it is very disruptive to cancel school so the buildings can be used for elections and primaries.

Erin, I hope you daughters big event isn't something parents plan to attend...parking will be tighter than usual.

Lora, why would you want to hide democracy in action from our children? I believe that elections could be used to great effect as a teaching tool. Also, where? The places would need to be local, accessible, have a large enough space to set up the polls, parking available and owned by the city/county/state. If there are other places that fit, I don't know of them.

My preference is that voting be moved to the weekends to avoid the worries about school interference. Too many people (especially in this area) cannot get to the polls due to work on weekdays. Even though employers are required to give time off to vote, because of distance and traffic, many people still cannot make it to the polls. There's a reason we, of all the modern nations, have the lowest election participation rate. In most of Europe, elections are on Sundays and they get 80%+ of the voters out. Here we are happy with 50%. That's just stupid.

I don't think it is a matter of "hiding democracy" from our children. It is solely a matter of safety for the kids by having citizens roaming the hallways of our schools. There is a reason the doors our locked requiring visitors to buzz into the schools, show ID and be supervised within the building. It is to PROTECT the children in the schools care. I for one don't want "strangers" running the halls. The schools already have a tough job and to add the additional security measures will be burdensome.

I came from NY where children took part in every election and they voted in our schools. The children had their own mock election, learned form the election board what would happen on the day, and listened to local politians to name just a few of things involved in an election. The schools ensured the safety of all the children by partitioning off the area of voting.