To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
From: Lisa Anderson, Town Clerk
Title
Update: 2018 Redistricting of Council Election Districts
Body
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Executive Summary
Pursuant to the passage of Amendment A at the May 15, 2018 Special Election, the Election Commission was authorized to redistrict from the existing seven Election Districts established in 2015 to six Election Districts.
The Election Commission reviewed the District boundaries at their May 30, 2018 Election Commission meeting and approved the 2018 Redistricting Plan and 2018 Election District Map at their June 11, 2018 Election Commission meeting. The map meets all the requirements as laid out in the Charter, Election Commission Regulations, and the transition plan approved with the passage of Amendment A as follows:
• The number of registered electors in the District with the lowest number of registered electors is less than 85% of the number of registered electors in the District with the highest number of registered electors
• No change in District boundaries shall create a vacancy during the term of any Councilmember in office at the time of the change
• Districts are contiguous and compact whenever possible
• Maintain common areas of interest
• Data containing the number of registered electors in the Town was obtained from Douglas County Elections as of May 1, 2018
• Redistricting must be complete by July 31, 2018
The requirement of 85% between the lowest and highest number of electors in the Districts was achieved at 89%. District boundaries were last changed in 2015. The number of registered voters has increased by 6,908 since that time. Below is a breakdown showing the 2015 voter populations compared to the 2018 voter populations per District:
District 1 5,446 7,488
District 2 5,177 8,075
District 3 6,492 7,766
District 4 4,840 7,743
District 5 6,103 7,247
District 6 5,816 7,209
District 7 4,746 0
38,620 45,528
The Charter specifically gives the authority to change District boundaries to the Election Commission. All decisions with regard to proposed changes to Districts made by the Election Commission are final and not subject to Council review or approval. Any appeal of the Election Commission’s decision would be filed directly with the District Court.
These new Districts took effect upon approval by the Election Commission on June 11, 2018 to allow for candidates to petition on the ballot within their District. Petitions can be circulated beginning on August 7, 2018.
Past practice has been that Councilmembers continue to represent the constituents within the Districts they were elected to until the new Councilmembers are sworn in following the election. Staff recommends continuing this practice.
Special Recognition
Redistricting was streamlined substantially with the assistance of the GIS department and Development Services. This process historically has taken 5-8 weeks; and with the aid of the electronic mapping that allowed “live” adjustments to the district boundaries, it took the Election Commission less than 30 minutes to adjust boundaries that complied with all of the requirements set forth in the Charter, Election Commission Regulations, and the voter approved transition plan (passage of Amendment A at the May 15, 2018 election).
Special thanks to Amy Hart-Dalton, Brittaney Murphy and Jeff Caldwell with the GIS department, and to Julie Kirkpatrick with Development Services.
Notification and Outreach Efforts
The Election Commission meetings are posted and open to the public. Public comment is taken; however no public was in attendance nor was any correspondence received.
Staff Recommendation
This item is information only. No action by Council is necessary.
Attachments
Attachment A 2018 Redistricting Plan
Exhibit A 2018 Election District Map
Exhibit B Overlay of 2015 Election Districts
Attachment B 2018 Election District Map Book