PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson County commissioners have approved redrawn voter precinct boundaries, increasing the number of precincts from 31 to 39 and balancing the average population of each.
Auditor Donna Eldridge and Elections Manager Karen Cartmel presented the new maps at a commissioners’ meeting Monday.
State law requires the report to be submitted by March 31 and approved by April 30.
The changes result from census data as well as state law that requires that precincts be evenly divided and have no more than 1,500 voters.
All voting in Jefferson County is done by mail, with no precinct balloting locations on an election day.
“Our main duty was to increase the efficiency of the election process,” Eldridge said.
“We thought that having precincts with no more than 900 people would be the best for everyone.”
Many voter precincts in the more rural areas of the county have far less than that number; the smallest in the county is Precinct 601 on the Pacific coast, which has only 96 voters.
On the other side of the spectrum, one Port Townsend precinct had 1,800 voters, and three others contained more than 1,100 people.
Prior to the realignment, Port Townsend had five precincts.
It now has 11 with voter counts ranging from 395 to 898.
Previously, Port Ludlow had three precincts with 1,725, 1,372 and 594 voters.
Under the new guidelines, it has six, the smallest containing 388 voters and the largest 700,
The redrawing makes it easier on both the auditor and the two political parties, according to Eldridge.
“We sort everything by precinct,” Eldridge said.
“If they have the same amount of people, the sorting boxes are all the same size and it makes it easier to count.”
Democratic State Committeeman Bill Miller said he was satisfied with the boundaries.
The redrawn boundaries make it easier to recruit precinct committee officers and campaign workers if they are not responsible for calling up more than 1,000 people, Miller said.
Jefferson County Republican Chairman Ron Gregory said he has not seen the final boundaries, but said he favors anything that increases efficiency in operations of the Auditor’s Office and the political parties.
“I don’t see any political impact either way,” he said.
Candidate filing will take place the week of May 14.
For more information go the Jefferson County Auditor, http://tinyurl.com/29kyd4y.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
