The Early Voting Location might be moved from the Cannon County Election Offices if improvements aren’t immediately made to the Old Adams Hospital Building in which the office is being housed at on 301 West Main Street. A recent inspection by the Tennessee State Fire Marshall’s office found 18 deficiencies in the building. Some of the violation include the sprinkler system and alarm system needs annual inspections, exit light are required, a safety electrical inspection needs to be done, doors at the end of the hall are locked, corridors are obstructed, and there’s no emergency plan in place and documented for the facility. The Cannon County Election Commission called an emergency meeting last night to discuss the reports and talk about solutions. After brainstorming for over an hour it was decided to make sure that the doors at the end of the hall which connects to the Cannon County Ambulance Service are unlocked during early voting which begins October 17th. Chairman Matt Studd will talk to Ambulance Director Ricky Cope about making sure the doors are unlocked and memo passed along to the ambulance staff noting the requirement for the doors to remain unlocked during early voting hours. Since the sprinkler system, lights and fire alarms aren’t working at first it was discussed about buying smoke alarms as a possible fix. The Fire Marshall’s office suggested a firewatch which is paying a volunteer firefighter to patrol the grounds looking for fire hazards. The Election Commission also agreed to get a emergency plan drawn up and posted in the building. After they get all three of these items completed, they will then submit these improvements for the State Fire Marshall to sign off on. If the Fire Marshall determines that these items that are being worked on are a show of improvements, he will sign off on allowing the building to continue to be occupied. If the Fire Marshall determines the opposite, the Election Commission have come up with 4 building spaces to look into to temporary house Early Voting. Efforts will be concentrated on upgrading the current offices with Early Voting just more than two weeks away.
