WORCESTER - Ahead of September's primary election, Worcester is looking to relocate some of the city's voting polls to abide by social distancing requirements.

The Board of Elections Commissions and the City Clerk's Office have been reviewing all existing polling locations and they're looking to relocate five, including: Ward 2, Precinct 3; Ward 3, Precinct 1; Ward 5, Precinct 4; Ward 7, Precinct 2; and Ward 10, Precinct 5.

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City Clerk Niko Vangjeli says three of the five, including the Zion Lutheran Church -- which sees a few thousand voters -- serve as double precincts and are not large enough. 

Single precinct locations like Stop & Shop on Grafton St., have people voting right at the entrance of the store, which Vangjeli says is busy and could cause crowding.

"We are not only concerned about our poll workers, but we are also concerned about the voters. As you can imagine, we are serving thousands of customers and residents on Election Day, so the goal of the election -- as well as the clerk's -- office is to make sure that we keep the voters safety in mind as well as the poll workers safety in mind," Vangjeli said.

Vangjeli says they're expecting a large turnout as this is a Presidential Election year. He said the last presidential election the city had close to 65,000 people vote. He also said the City will be offering early in-person voting if approved by the state legislature. 

The next Election Commission meeting is scheduled for July 1.