After criticism from local political groups, the Alachua City Commission unanimously voted Feb. 9 to open the Alachua Branch Library as a polling location for Precinct 53 for the April 14 municipal election.
This comes after the commission decided in January to close the Cleather Hatchcock Center, where Precinct 53 typically votes. The change sparked allegations of voter suppression from local Democratic groups.
Precinct 53 voters were initially set to be redirected to vote at the Legacy Park Multipurpose Center, which is almost 2 miles from the Hathcock Center.
By comparison, the Alachua Library Branch is less than a mile from the original precinct location, alleviating concerns about transportation to the polls.
Following the decision to move the polls to the library, some argued the commission still had work to do to ensure all voters knew about the change as the election approached.
Jean Calderwood, a former mayor and city commissioner for Alachua, said her first thoughts upon hearing about the movement of the precinct to the library rather than to Legacy Park were positive.
“I’m glad the city commission revisited this issue because of the community uproar,” she said.
She said she would have preferred the city postpone construction at the Hathcock Center until after the April election but wasn’t surprised it didn’t.
However, as a voter in the precinct, she said the library is a suitable alternative, because residents are familiar with it and the location is a “much more manageable” distance from the Hathcock Center than the Legacy Park location would have been.
The city delivered on its responsibility to ensure voters knew about the polling location change, she said.
With the city sending emails and each of the candidates reminding voters throughout the campaigning process.
Demographic data from the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections shows the precinct serves a predominantly non-white population, and the closure of the voting center raised questions about the motivations behind the decision among the community.
The commission cited construction plans as the reason for closing the Hathcock Center despite no confirmed start date.
The City of Alachua responded to The Alligator’s Feb. 5 request for the construction plans on March 9.
“The nature or volume of your request requires an extensive use of City resources,” the response said. “Before we proceed with your request, we would like to let you know that there will be a special service charge estimate of $739.00.”
Tyler Foerst, the chair of the Alachua County Democratic Party, said he isn’t happy with how the situation turned out, but he’s glad the commission identified an acceptable alternative location to the Hathcock Center.
Foerst said the commission’s reversal didn’t surprise him.
“I figured after we called them out that they would take corrective action,” he said.
This incident may have long-term effects for the city of Alachua and how the administration deals with issues, according to Foerst.
“I think they know now that we are paying attention, and their citizens are paying attention, and they're not going to be able to just sweep these kinds of things under the rug anymore,” he said. “Those days are gone.”
Bobby Mermer, coordinator of the Alachua County Labor Coalition, said the location change to the library is better than having no precinct at all, but it would have been better if the city had waited until after the election to close the Hathcock Center.
“The timing is still a little suspect,” he said. “We deeply hope that there’s a robust effort to notify the voters who previously voted at the center of the change.”
He said many of these changes are missed by voters and the city needs to do more than just notify voters once.
The city needs to ensure anyone who intends to vote at the center knows, well in advance, they need to go to the library instead, he added.
The Alachua City Commission did not respond to dozens of requests for comment through phone and email over the course of several weeks.
Contact Alexa Ryan at aryan@alligator.org. Follow her on X @AlexaRyan_.
Alexa is a second-year journalism and international studies student and The Alligator's Spring 2026 Enterprise Politics Reporter. She previously served as the Fall 2025 Criminal Justice Reporter. In her free time, she enjoys running, traveling and going on random side quests.
