Crisis Adverted (for now)

At the June 14th Committee of the Whole meeting the County Board tabled a Resolution o Authorize Precincts Boundary Adjustments.  The Resolution would have added 117 new voting precincts effective December 1, 2018.  The Resolution never went through a County Board Committee or had any input from the Democratic Party.  The new boundaries would have made precinct work, especially canvassing, more difficult.  It was apparent from discussion that Board Members were completely blindsided by this Resolution, and in the spirit of bipartisanship, Republican Board Members, Democratic Board Member Paula Yensen, and Democratic Party leadership who spoke during public comments, concluded that this Resolution was not properly vented to merit consideration.  County Clerk Mary McClellan, who made the recommendation for boundary changes, was not present to answer the many questions County Board Members had regarding her proposed boundary changes.

However, this issue is not over!  The County will still need to consider the size of precincts to comply with State guidelines.  Toward that end, County Board Chairman Jack Franks proposed a committee consisting of non-elected citizens to make recommendations on precinct boundaries.  The question now is whether this should be accomplished after the Nov. 6th election or whether it should be considered as part of a larger package including information from the 2020 Census, redistricting, and the future size of the County Board.  Stay tuned!