City Council votes to review precincts

Earlier this month, the Committee on Government Operations held a hearing regarding an ordinance requiring review of precincts every five years in the City of Boston. The Council voted to pass the ordinance this week.

Council President Campbell explained that the purpose of the ordinance is to be proactive by mandating a review of precincts. All municipalities in the state, except for Boston, are required to undertake reprecincting every 10 years, redrawing boundary lines to equalize the population within wards and precincts. Because of Boston’s exemption, reprecincting has not happened in 90 years, and some precincts have several thousand voters, while others have just a few hundred.

The committee would be required to examine certain factors as outlined in the proposal which include: population shifts, development in neighborhoods, impact of precinct size on polling locations, staffing, and election day operations.