The Dane County Board voted Thursday night to approve the former Ale Asylum building as the county’s new election center, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. Election equipment and staff will ultimately now relocate to the building at 2002 Pankratz St. near the Dane County Regional Airport. The county will purchase the building for roughly $5 million.
Discussions of relocating began last year after a task force found that the City-County Building currently housing local election offices was susceptible to intruders, lacking access control, video surveillance, and physical barriers. The offices are also prone to flooding.
A complete renovation of the former brewery site will take multiple years, but election equipment and materials can be stored in the property’s 36,000-square-foot warehouse as soon as next year.
