NEW ULM — The New Ulm School Board approved two ways to streamline voting at their Thursday meeting.

Their first act created a combined polling place for multiple precincts in the event a vote needs to be held outside of a statewide election day. The combined polling place will be located at the New Ulm Community Center on 600 North German Street in New Ulm. Superintendent Sean Koster said the measure is a failsafe if circumstances require it.

“If they ever need a referendum pass or vote for election in August, September, or April, they need to have a act so it can take place outside of the state election in November,” he said. “If you don’t have this act in place you can never have an election or vote [any other time].”

The combined polling place would require anyone within the ISD 88 territory, including outside of Brown County, to travel there if they wish to vote. Koster said having a combined polling place is necessary when only a school issue is voted on.

“It’s more concentrated,” he said. “Less people would have to run it because you’re not going to get as much of the public out on a non-state-election day.”

The act also established required polling place hours from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., ensuring people have ample time to vote.

A second act pertained to the counting of write-in votes. If the total amount of write-in votes is not greater than the votes received for a ballot candidate, the votes will not be tallied. Like with a combined polling place, Koster said this act ensures resources are not wasted.

“If the total number of write-ins doesn’t surpass the candidate with the fewest votes, there wouldn’t be any reason to tally them,” he said. “Counting them would waste resources, but unless this is passed those have to be tallied and we’d be spending undue taxpayer dollars.”

The combined polling place act received a motion to approve from Board member Jonathan Schiro and a second from Denny Waloch. The write-in vote act was motioned for approval by Board member Melissa Sunderman and received a second from Christie Dewanz.

The next School Board study session will be held Thursday, Jan. 4 at 5 p.m. The next School Board meeting will be on Thursday, Jan. 25 at 5 p.m. Both are in the New Ulm Middle School at 414 Payne Street.