Wauwatosa School Board no longer wants to use schools as polling places due to safety concerns

WAUWATOSA -- After the election in November 2016, officials with the Wauwatosa School District don't want schools used as polling places.

Safety concerns have been raised about people wandering through school buildings on Election Day.

On Monday, May 9th, the Wauwatosa School Board voted to tell the city that the district's schools cannot be used as voting locations after November.

It isn't yet clear where the polling places would be moved to.

"We need to be proactive and not be dealing with a situation after the fact if something bad occurs," Phil Ertl, superintendent of the Wauwatosa School District said.

Voting locations need to be fairly well placed within a municipality so they're convenient for the people to use. There's not always a lot of large facilities available," Carla Ledesma, Wauwatosa city clerk said.

As for this year, the board voted to hold a teacher's in service day on Election Day in November, so students won't be in schools.