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<br />Request for Action <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />To Item Number <br />Mayor and City Council 7.1 <br />Agenda Section Meeting Date Prepared by <br />Public Hearing March 7, 2022 Tina Allard, City Clerk <br />Item Description Reviewed by <br />2022 Redistricting: Establish Election District Cal Portner, City Administrator <br />Boundaries and Polling Places <br />Reviewed by <br /> <br /> <br />Action Requested <br />1. Mayor Dietz to open this item for public comment. <br />2. Adopt, by motion, an ordinance establishing new ward boundaries. <br />3. Adopt, by motion, a resolution establishing precincts and polling places. <br /> <br />Background <br />Following the federal decennial census, local governments are required to redraw election districts. The City <br />Council needs to establish new ward boundaries so representation among the wards remains as equal as possible. <br />Elk River’s population increased by 2,861 people since the 2010 Census so minor changes are proposed. <br /> <br />Wards <br />Wards are election districts within the city from which members of the City Council are elected. Elk River has <br />four wards. Wards must be compact and contiguous and as equal in population as practicable. Other <br />considerations include preserving political subdivisions, such as neighborhoods, preserve communities of interest, <br />and to not protect or pair up incumbents. <br /> <br />Precincts <br />Precincts are areas created for administering elections. They are not tied to population size, but rather to the <br />number of registered voters in each precinct. There are no requirements for number of registered voters in a <br />precinct, but a recommendation is not to have more than 1,500 to 2,000. Our proposed new precincts fall <br />between a range of 1,400 to 2,300. While this is a recommended standard, there are factors over the last few <br />elections that have made these numbers work, which include more people early voting and the use of poll pads <br />for a quicker, streamlined voting process. Furthermore, there have not been issues with long lines at voting <br />locations. The county auditor indicated she didn’t feel there were concerns with these numbers citing the same <br />reasoning. <br /> <br />March 29 is the required deadline to complete this project. We’ll submit our plan to the state and county. <br />Counties and schools then complete their redistricting process based on our adopted map. This draft map was <br />sent to Sherburne County and ISD #728 for review and no comments were received. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />The Elk River Vision <br />A welcoming community with revolutionary and spirited resourcefulness, exceptional <br /> <br />service, and community engagement that encourages and inspires prosperity. <br /> Updated: August 2020 <br /> <br />