County
Ada Precints And Commish Districts Change
February 7, 2012 
As predicted by the GUARDIAN, we have a possible battle between Sharon Ullman and Vern Bisterfeldt with the changes in legislative and commish districting.
Bisterfeldt won’t say if he is running (Mrs. Commish will make that decision), Ullman won’t talk to the GUARDIAN, and word on the street is former City Councilor, chief, drug czar Jim Tibbs is leaning toward a run at the seat that will be left open due to the boundry changes.
Also, the voting precincts have been streamlined and County Clerk Chris Rich, the chief election officer, says a more balanced set of voter precincts will emerge.
Here is the press release detailing the changes:
The Board of Commissioners approved new voting precinct and
Commissioner district boundaries for Ada County.
The redrawing of voter precincts follows the Commission on Reapportionment’sestablishment of new Congressional and Legislative district boundaries, requiring the County to modify its precinct structure. Rapid growth in Ada County had alsocreated a disparity in the number of voters between precincts.
With the new precinct boundaries in effect, the number of Ada County voting
precincts increases to just 145 from 141. This number is in line with where the Ada
County Clerk’s Office expected it to be when it began this process, given the
practical and financial considerations of increasing the number of precincts. The
primary goal in redrawing the district boundaries was to more evenly distribute
voters per precinct. Prior to redrawing the boundaries, some large Ada County
precincts had upwards of 3000 voters; today the average is around 1,400 voters per
precinct. The new boundaries will also help to eliminate confusion about polling
locations, and unify some communities and neighborhoods that historically may have
been awkwardly divided.
“The new precincts are good for the voters of Ada County. Some of our largest
precincts are now smaller, and some of our smallest are now larger. As a result,
voters should now see shorter lines and have shorter drives to polling locations,”
said Chief Deputy Clerk Phil McGrane.
The Clerk’s Office would like to thank residents for their valuable and influential
input provided at a December public open house. With the precinct boundary
redrawing complete, Ada County Elections will now be focused on getting the voter
database updated in time for the May Primary election.
In addition to the new precinct boundaries, the County Commissioner districts needed
to be redrawn so they would balance out based on district population, and in keeping
with the new Legislative district boundaries. This reorganization better equalizes
the Commissioner districts, resulting in approximately 130,000 people per district
under the new boundaries. However, this redistricting does leave the District #1
County Commissioner seat vacant for the upcoming election.
For more information on the new precinct boundaries, visit the Ada County Clerk’s
website at www.adaweb.net/Clerk.aspx
here
to view a map of the new precinct, Commissioner district and Legislative district
boundaries.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Feb 8, 2012, 3:56 pm
“Also, the voting precincts have been streamlined and County Clerk Chris Rich, the chief election officer, says a more balanced set of voter precincts will emerge.”
Commissioner Ullaman posted on her Facebook page that she wanted to be in Commissioner Bisterfeldt’s district. I’m guessing because the new district has a 4 year term instead of the 2 year term she would have been trying for.