Diane Valden is reporting for The Columbia Paper the Taconic Hills Board of Education has changed the way district residents register to vote in annual budget votes and other school district elections. On June 19, the board adopted a resolution stating the district will change to a system of poll registration and "no longer provide for personal registration of voters," but it is unclear what this means in practical terms. School Board President Bonnie Torchia said the board “is going to come up with a policy to go along with our resolution” and plans to conduct a forum and workshop to collect public input at some future time. Problems arose prior to the annual budget vote and school board election in May when residents, already registered to vote, were denied absentee ballots after district officials determined those residents had failed to produce adequate proof of residency. Officials argued that being registered to vote with the Columbia County Board of Elections was not sufficient evidence of being a qualified voter in the school district. Columbia County Democratic Committee Chairman Keith Kanaga received complaints in May, from Democrats about the problems they ran into with voting at Taconic Hills this year. Change said the committee has retained the services of a law firm that specializes in education law, to help the committee formulate questions about the differences in voter registration systems. He said he found the information provided by the district hard to understand. Kanaga said the committee's hope is "to be helpful" to community residents, not to take a partisan position. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.