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Tue. 4:44 p.m. Voting steady in TJX zone change referendum

LORDSTOWN – A steady stream of voters has been going into the village’s administration building to cast ballots on zone change ordinances that could determine the fate of the proposed TJX HomeGoods distribution center.

When the polls opened at 6:30 a.m. today there were already 295 absentee ballots at the Trumbull County Board of Elections. By about 3 p.m., board officials estimated there were 615 ballots cast at the polls.

“There is going to be a pretty high turnout for this election,” said Stephanie Penrose, elections board director. “Because of the circumstances of this election, we don’t have anything to compare it to.”

Penrose said there were no real problems reported at the polls.

Earlier today, there had been some complaints about people coming too close to the orange cones used to separate voters from those supporting either side of the issue.

“When we sent someone to investigate, we did not witness the problem,” she said.

Periods of rain did not affect slow voters who wanted to have a say about the future of the village’s zoning and jobs that may move in as a result of the special election.

TJX wants to build the 1.2 million-square-foot, $170 million distribution center on 290-acres of land near Ellsworth Bailey and Hallock Young roads.

To help make it happen, village council OK’d in June zone changes for the land from residential to industrial, which is what voters are voting on today ä whether the change should stay intact.

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