Photo courtesy of Jennifer King / Jones County Board of Elections

TRENTON - When Jones County voters go to the polls on Nov. 6, some will head to a different location thanks to Hurricane Florence.

According to Jennifer King, elections director for Jones County, one of the polling locations was flooded, rendering it unusable for the upcoming election. The Trenton Missionary Baptist Church at 202 W Jones St. in Trenton would have been the polling place for the fifth precinct, but the damage it suffered left officials scrambling to find an alternative.

Further complicating the situation was the number of buildings that either suffered damage or were in use for disaster relief operations. The “civic center was...my first thought” said King, but “it’s a distribution site. So that wasn’t an option.”

Another option, the DHI (Defense Holdings Inc.)  building, is serving as a Red Cross Shelter, so it was unavailable.

“The only other option we had was to move them to the Phillips Crossroads precinct, but parking was already tight there,” King said.  

That left the Jones County Board of Elections itself as “the most logical choice,” according to Jones County Manager Franky Howard. A lack of parking could also be an issue at the Board of Elections, but King is hopeful the 30 spaces they have will be enough.

The other six Jones County Precincts will vote at their normal locations. For displaced residents, one stop, early voting is available at the Board of Elections from Oct. 17- Nov. 3.