While the concept of making people work a little harder to cast their vote in elections is never ideal, a recently announced plan to consolidate some local polling places is an idea worthy of consideration.

Last week, a bipartisan elections reform package was unveiled in Harrisburg that involved discussion on how to make elections “more efficient, both administratively and financially,” according to Shari Brewer, director of Butler County’s Bureau of Elections.

The reform package included revisions on absentee ballots, loosening restrictions on requirements for poll workers, methods of simplifying ballots and a proposal to allow voting centers to replace individual municipal precincts.

We agree with Brewer that the establishment of voting centers — such as local schools — to replace some of the smaller county voting sites, where only a handful of people often vote in each election, could be a good idea.

Under the proposal, the centers would be centrally located, providing voters with a polling site close to their homes. This would eliminate the expenses and challenges of providing smaller polling places in tiny townships. Brewer said that some precincts contain fewer than 50 registered voters, and she knows of a few that draw only 10 to 20 people. Current state laws require that each municipality must have a voting precinct, but Brewer pointed out that the laws were written in the 1930s, when some people still used a horse and buggy, whereas modern voters would likely be able to access a voting center more easily.

Currently, her office is required to provide voting equipment, at least three poll workers and, if necessary, equipment to make polling sites compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. In the county’s smallest municipalities, the cost to taxpayers was as much as $190 per voter. In the larger precincts, the cost was $8 per voter. In states that have all-mail ballots, the cost is $2 to $3, according to Brewer’s calculations.

Naturally, a plan like this one would present its share of challenges and concerns. Would votes be lost from elderly voters who have voted for years in a small, local precinct, but must now travel slightly farther to a voting center? Would busing be provided for voters who will be inconvenienced by consolidation? Outreach to voters to notify them that their polling site has changed would also be essential.

Then again, locating a polling site at a school could make it easier for some voters. Schools are already ADA compliant, so transporting and setting up ramps, signs and mats at smaller polling sites would not be necessary. Schools also offer more parking and frequently have their own security, and voters would likely have an easier time locating them than a smaller polling site.

Voting centers would also reduce the number of poll workers required on Election Day.

So, while there are details that need to be addressed to ensure that voting doesn’t become a burden for voters, providing a more cost-effective means of conducting elections in the state and county at centrally located voting centers, such as schools, is a concept with potential that just needs a little ironing out.