La Plata County will redistrict its county commissioner and precinct boundaries after two precincts had too many voters.
Precinct 26, north of Bayfield, and precinct 30, which surrounds the Fort Lewis College area, exceeded the maxium of 2,000 registered voters a precinct is allowed, and by state law had to be changed.
La Plata County Clerk Tiffany Lee Parker and elections administrator Erin Hutchins enlisted the help of the Geographical Information Systems department to come up with proposed maps to even voters out. The duo will deliver the proposal to county commissioners on June 27; it must be approved by July 1.
Parker had wanted to adjust the precinct lines to closely mirror the municipal boundary lines for Bayfield, Durango and Ignacio.
That would improve the data for specific entities, Parker said. For example, candidates can assess the data and make decisions about where they want to campaign, and the data can show how cities and regions vote on particular issues.
“The better data we can provide them, the better it’s going to be,” Hutchins said. “This is just a really great step in that direction to getting everyone really solid information.”
The current overlap of municipal boundary lines and precinct boundary lines makes it difficult for entities to analyze election results. The new system will better show how a particular town or region voted on a particular issue, Parker said.
Currently, a single precinct could have different ballots, depending on the location of school district, city, and county lines. That causes the county to create multiple ballot styles, an expense the county wants to eliminate.
“The lower amount of ballot styles you have, the more efficient it is,” Parker said.
Parker estimates that the new precinct lines will save the county between $5,000 and $8,000.
“It’s hard to estimate the efficiency side of that,” Parker said. “But just the printing and the ballot styles, that’s actual hard cost savings.”
Parker and Hutchins will hold public meetings in each town to go over the proposed changes. They met with community members in Bayfield last week, and will hold a meeting 5:30-6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the La Plata County Administration building and on June 8 at the Ignacio Community Library.
“We’re talking to people and trying to understand what their thoughts are,” Parker said. “We will make some minor adjustments.”
The project began in April of 2016, but took longer than expected because it required meticulous double-checking.
“You don’t want to make a mistake because what that does on the end of it is give somebody a wrong ballot style to vote on,” Parker said. “We don’t want that. That’s a huge issue. We want everybody to be voting on exactly what they’re eligible to be voting on.”
Though Colorado has mail voting and doesn’t use precinct polling place anymore, precincts are valuable to political parties because of the caucuses. Caucuses are popular during general elections, which makes having their locations easily accessible to constituents important.
“This is a foundation of an election,” Parker said.
Though county commissioners serve a specific district and must live in that district, they are elected at-large.
Every resident who would be impacted by the precinict change will receive a notice in the mail.
asemadeni@durangoherald.com
Draft maps
To look at drafts of the proposed La Plata County commissioner districts and voting precincts, visit
bit.ly/2eB43Po
.
