10-28-2015 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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L4tle nada 515 Little Canada Road, Little Canada, MN 55117-1600 (651) 766-4029 / FAX: (651) 766-4048 www.ci.little-canada.mn.us MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor Keis and Members of the City Council FROM: Kathy Glanzer, City Clerk DATE: October 21, 2015 RE: Realignment of Precinct Boundaries MAYOR John Keis COUNCIL Rick Montour Michael McGraw Tom Fischer Christian Torkelson ADMINISTRATOR Joel R. Hanson As you are aware, the City has three voting precincts. While the vast majority of the City is in the Roseville Area School District, Precincts 2 and 3 overlap school district boundaries and include portions of the White Bear School District. With regard to Precinct 2, the Twin Lake area is in the White Bear School District and has approximately 100 registered voters. With regard to Precinct 3, the northern area of this precinct lies in the White Bear School District. There is currently no residential property in this area and thus no registered voters. It should be noted that when the senior housing development is completed at the intersection of Rice Street and Country Drive, the City will gain a limited number of registered voters in this area. City staff is recommending a realignment of the City's precinct boundaries to add the portion of Precinct 3 that lies in the White Bear School District to Precinct 2 for the following reasons: o State Law recently changed allowing precinct boundary lines to follow school district boundary lines even though there is not a visually definable line such as a street, river, railroad track, etc. o During the August, 2015 Primary Election, Ramsey County conducted the White Bear School District election and insisted on opening Little Canada Precinct 3 even though there are no voters in that precinct. The County opened the precinct and staffed it with 3 election judges from 6:45 a.m. until 8 p.m. The County had an option to combine precincts, but refused to do so. It should also be noted that Little Canada Precinct 2 was also open for the White Bear School District Primary, again staffed with 3 election judges and there was one vote cast on primary election day. While staff appreciates the desire to keep voting precincts consistent for elections, it is City staff's opinion that at the very minimum Precincts 2 and 3 could have been combined with no impact to voters are there are no White Bear Lake School District voters in Precinct 3.