A surge of registered voters has led to a need for some changes in voting precincts with some 18,500 Clark County residents receiving a new voter registration card to reflect the redrawing done.
A release from the Clark County Elections Department alerted that on March 18 they would be mailing out updated cards for those affected by precinct changes. Clark County Elections Department Director Cathie Garber explained that a chief reason for so many updates was people voting last November.
“From August to October we had a huge influx of voters for the presidential election,” Garber said.
After that election there was an increase of close to 12,000 voters, increasing the number of county voters from about 250,500 to more than 262,000, or about 4.7 percent.
As required by Washington state law, voting precincts cannot contain more than 1,500 registered voters in their boundaries. Due to the voter increase, 24 of the county’s precincts were over the 1,500-voter limit. Overall, 25 new precincts were created and 47 had boundary shifts, the release stated.
To get every precinct below the limit, Garber explained her department in some cases split precincts in half. In others a precinct was created between two existing ones.
The redrawing is a periodic undertaking, Garber said, mentioning that some years there isn’t a need for precinct changes given the number of new voters.
“This year we definitely had to,” Garber said.
The process of redrawing precinct lines typically begins at about the start of the year, Garber said. Garber and elections coordinator Richard Cooper take a look for oversized precincts as well as annexations.
In the case of annexations, precinct boundaries are required to be fully within or outside an incorporated municipality, which could involve either moving annexed land into an existing boundary in the city or creating a new one altogether, Garber explained.
Following heavy review, once the department has an idea of where lines should be they would head to the Board of County Councilors for their approval before being able to officially make the changes, she added.
After making the changes local political parties of any precinct committee officers who may have been placed into a new or different boundary are contacted, Garber explained. This happens after the fact of the change so that new boundaries could not be considered a form of gerrymandering.
As an example of that blind redrawing, Garber mentioned that County Councilor Julie Olson was one of the thousands whose precinct changed.
Although the process is generally intensive, Garber said that following the decennial U.S. Census, redrawing is the most work, as legislative lines as well as municipal district lines are also changed based on population numbers, affecting where precincts can be drawn.
“Every 10 years … it’s a really big endeavor,” Garber said.
This year’s change was substantial given it affected about 18,500 voters, whereas last year was more in the few thousand range for comparison.
Garber commended her staff for being able to take the work in stride.
“(In) our elections process there are many pieces that are very complicated, but when you have a team like this, it really helps,” Garber said.
