03-09-2022 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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STAFF REPORT TO: Mayor Keis and Members of City Council FROM: Heidi Heller, City Clerk DATE: March 9, 2022 RE: Re-Establish Precincts and Polling Place for Little Canada Elections after Redistricting ACTION TO BE CONSIDERED: Adopt the resolution re-establishing the current three precinct boundaries and polling places for the City of Little Canada. BACKGROUND: Following the 2020 Census, each state is required to go through a re-districting process to establish boundaries for (8) seats in the US House of Representatives, and the State House and Senate. The state legislature is given the first opportunity to establish potential boundaries, but as was not unique to recent history, the legislature did not meet their obligation and district boundaries were established by a court ordered panel. State statute, specifically 204B.14 ELECTION PRECINCTS, then gives authority to municipalities to consider re-establishing existing precincts, or update. While Little Canada will see changes at the state level (see attached images) at a high level, state redistricting takes the total population of the state (5,706,494) and divides by the number of seats per elected body. This equates to: • US Congressional districts will represent approximately 713,000 people • State Senate Districts (ideally) represent 85,172 people o Largest district 85,959, smallest district 84,350 - with deviations of .92% OR 787 persons and -.97% OR -822 persons (mean deviation of .38 percent OR 324 persons) • State House Districts (ideally) represent 42,586 people o Largest district 43,001, smallest district 42,116 – with deviations of .97% OR 415 persons and -.99% OR -420 persons (mean deviation of .52 percent OR 222 persons) Re-districting in municipalities traditionally considers a few things; including: • Size of precincts, including number of registered voters • Recognizable (precinct) boundaries/other jurisdictional boundaries • Polling place accommodations