Delaware County begins local redistricting, focuses on voting precincts first

Delaware County has begun the process of redistricting for the 2022 election.  As IPR’s Stephanie Wiechmann reports, officials say precincts and districts will need to be redrawn because of population loss.

New statewide district maps were signed into law by the governor in early October.  County governments then got what they needed to begin the redistricting process locally.

John Brook is the attorney for the Delaware County Commissioners.  He says the results of the 2020 US Census means both precinct and district lines will need to be redrawn.

“The county suffered an about – almost 6,000-person loss, according to the census.  We’re down below 112,000 in the county now.  So, all the districts for the council and for the commissioners lost people, and so we’ve got to check on, reconfigure those.”

On Monday morning, commissioners took the first step and approved new precinct lines – which will show people where they will vote in 2022.  Brooks says in the 10 years since the last redistricting, Albany and Muncie have had annexations and Yorktown and Mt. Pleasant consolidated – making adjustments necessary.

Delaware County Clerk Rick Spangler says the new precincts cleaned up “some rough edges” and Brook says it won’t affect many voters.

“I think it affected less than 100 voters, wasn’t it, Rick?” Brook asked at the meeting.

“Yeah,” replied Spangler.  “Very small changes, but it really does help.  It will help my office when we come to setting up election time.”

Read More: Independent analyses say Indiana redistricting will produce little competition

Delaware County election officials are holding two public forums to talk about voting centers.  The first is Thursday night at Southside Middle School at 6:00 pm.

Voters affected will receive a letter from the county detailing the changes.  The county also will advertise the new precinct maps by public notice before the county election board considers their approval.  Commissioners also say those new maps will be online soon.

New precincts won’t make as much of a difference if Delaware County adopts voting centers for its elections – something more than 50 Indiana counties have already done.  County officials are considering the option as part of an academic project for a Ball State certificate program.