|
|
In the commissioner’s room, Cook County Commissioners held a public hearing on Tuesday, April 12, to discuss the newly proposed voter precincts caused by the 2020 census. Every ten years, the census potentially causes precinct lines to be redrawn if the population shifts from area to area.
No one from the public attended the hearing.
A committee made up of Auditor/Treasurer Braidy Powers, commissioners David Mills and Stacey Hawkins was tasked with looking at the census to see if the county needed redistricting of unorganized territory precincts to meet the requirements of Minnesota Statute 375. That statute requires commissioner districts whose population varies more than 10 percent from the average district population to be redistricted. Counties have until April 26, 2022, to redraw the lines.
Cook County Auditor/ Treasurer Braidy Powers led the county board through the process, noting that on March 22, the commissioner’s created a new precinct, breaking up District 4.
“We created a new precinct; we broke up district four into three precincts,” Powers said. We still have Maple Hill, Gunflint, and now Colvill, including the town hall.” The Colvill District goes to Pine Mountain road, where it ends/ starts at the Gunflint Trail.
In most cases, precincts are set by town or cities, Powers said, but due to the county’s rural nature, Powers told commissioners, “We have been working on creating precincts in mind for commissioner districts.” He added the precincts are intended to be contiguous, intact, and have equal census blocks.
Commissioner Dave Mills suggested three minor “tweaks” to the new plan. Mills said the changes were “Really of no consequence population-wise for the precincts” but would change the lines slightly but not change the numbers of people in the precincts.
The first two areas are on the west side of the Trout Lake road and are currently in District 1. Mills’ proposal would move them into District 4. The third area is on the bottom of County Road 14 and is now slated to be in District 1, but Mills offered it makes more sense to include this property in District 4. No one lives in any of the land Mils proposes to reconfigure.
Powers said Mills suggested changes to move the district lines from “rivers to roads” will make it easier for the election system.
When the new lines are drawn and voted in, Powers said the public “will get notice of the precinct they are in whether it’s new precinct or the old precinct they are in.”
The 2020 census results showed populations in districts 1 and 2 varied by more than 10 percent, and redistricting is required to bring them into compliance. The goal is to make populations in each district as equal as possible.
Cook County has a population of 5,600, so 1,120 is the goal population for each of our five districts. Powers said the new plan does that.
In the slightly modified plan, the population for District 1 is 1,104 people; District 2 is 1,096; District 3 is 1,046; District 4 is 1,116, and District 5 has 1,138 people. As Powers noted, “ So, it’s pretty tight, close as you can get.”
Powers also mentioned that the new lines were drawn based on the April 2020 census, “and those numbers have already changed and the numbers will continue to change over the next ten years, and this doesn’t tell you who will vote. So it’s equal representation whether people choose to vote or not.”
Commissioners Board Chair Ann Sullivan said the board will “See what feedback we get until the 26th” and then decide on the new precinct lines.
The commissioners will take live comments or comments sent to them to consider by April 26.
Leave a Reply