The Marshall County Election Board members met Tuesday morning to review procedures concerning the redistricting and reprecincting process.
The process is typically held following a census year where Indiana Congressional and State Legislative boundaries may be redrawn due to a shift in population. This trickles down to the local level as commissioner and county council districts are reviewed for population trends. The population in individual precincts will also be reviewed to determine if precincts need to be amended. Other municipal governments will follow suit in 2022.
The idea is to have equal representation of all commissioners and council members.
A delay in gathering and releasing census data was experienced because of the pandemic. While the boundaries are normally approved by the General Assembly before the end of the session in April, the boundaries will be acted upon by the General Assembly this month or in October. It will then move to Governor Eric Holcomb’s desk for approval.
Board member and Clerk Deb VanDeMark said she hopes to get more information at a clerk’s conference Wednesday to gather more information concerning perimeters in where the number of voters needs to be to determine district and precinct boundaries. The Marshall County Election Board members may not need to do much in terms of moving boundaries, but more will be reviewed during their next meeting on Thursday, September 23 at 8 a.m. ET. The members would like to have some recommendations to the Marshall County Commissioners by their meeting on October 4 as supporting documents need to be submitted to the Indiana Election Division by October 15. The commissioners will need to approve redistricting and reprecincting changes by the end of the year.
