Some voters in north Jefferson County will soon have a new place to vote.

The Jefferson County Board of Registrars has added a new voting precinct in Gardendale for all federal, state and county elections.

Gardendale-Mt. Vernon United Methodist Church will serve as the new precinct effective in 2016 in order to help alleviate overcrowding at the Gardendale Civic Center, which is currently the only voting precinct for Gardendale residents.

During the election for governor in November 2014, more than 10,000 voters were assigned to vote at the civic center, according to Barry Stephenson, chairman of the Jefferson County Board of Registrars.

“The Gardendale Civic Center had grown too large, and another precinct was needed for the area,” said Stephenson. “Gardendale-Mt. Vernon United Methodist Church is an outstanding facility with plenty of parking and handicap parking. The additional precinct will solve the overcrowding issues at the civic center and allow the voters to get in and out of each precinct in an orderly and efficient way, which will benefit everyone in the election process.”

Gardendale Mayor Othell Phillips said parking and overcrowding was indeed becoming an issue at the civic center on election days.

“Parking and long lines for voting booths were beginning to be a problem because we have such a large growth rate,” Phillips said. “The Gardendale polling station had gotten too large for the board of registrar’s criteria. Typically, you don’t have one polling station that large.”

Stephenson confirmed that the Gardendale Civic Center had been “the largest voting precinct in Jefferson County.”

Phillips said Stephenson had approached the city about possibly using the church as a polling site.

“We made the call and connected the two entities together to work out the details,” Phillips said. “It should make voting simpler and easier and quicker.”

Stephenson said that about 4,000 voters will be split off from the civic center and assigned to the church, leaving about 6,000 voters assigned at the civic center.

The geographic area assigned to the church will be all Gardendale voters east of U.S. Highway 31 and south of Glenn Chapel Road.

Stephenson said the board of registrars will mail a notification card by the end of the month to every voter that is assigned to the new precinct.