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Home My WebLink About2A, Discussion with Ramsey County on Precincts and Polling Places for 2012 Elections lt ,-A IR�)EN_ HILLS Request for Council Action 2A Prepared By: Sue Iverson,Director of Finance Work Session Date: March 12,2012 and Administrative Services Discussion with Ramsey County on Precincts and Polling Places for 2012 Elections Budgeted Amount: Actual Amount: Funding Source: N/A N/A N/A Discussion tonic: Discussion with Ramsey County Elections on Precincts and Polling Places for the 2012 Elections. Sunnortine Documents: 1. Memorandum dated March 12, 2012 from Sue Iverson, Director of Finance and Administrative Services. 2. Memorandum dated March 8,2012 from Joseph Mansky,Ramsey County Elections Manager 3. Proposed Arden Hills Precinct Map lt'-- ,,--ARQEN HILLS MEMORANDUM DATE: March 12,2012 TO: Mayor and City Council Patrick Klaers, City Administrator FROM: Sue Iverson, Director of Finance and Administrative Services SUBJECT: Discussion of Precincts and Polling Places for the 2012 Primary and General Elections in 2012 with Ramsey County Elections BACKGROUND The City has contract with Ramsey County to conduct our elections, however, the City Council still retains the authority to set its Precincts and Polling Places. DISCUSSION Attached is a memo and map from Joe Mansky, Ramsey County Elections Manager, outlining the proposed changes. The Council will be asked to approve a resolution approving these changes at the City Council meeting following the worksession. i P:\Admin\Council\Agendas & Packet Information\2012\03-12-12 Wk Sess\Packet Informati on\D iscuss ion of precincts and polling places for 2012.doc Ramsey County Elections 90 West Plato Boulevard, Suite 160 Phone: 651.266.2171 Ramsey uniy P.O. Box 64098 Fax: 651.266.2177 St Paul, MN 55164-0098 Email: elections@co.ramsey.mn.us March 8, 2012 TO: Members of the Arden Hills City Council FROM: Joseph Mansky Ramsey County Elections Manager SUBJECT: DESIGNATION OF PRECINCTS AND POLLING PLACES I As you know, the special redistricting panel appointed by Chief Justice Gildea released its court order for the new legislative redistricting plan on February 21. That action now requires the City to reestablish its precincts and designate its polling places for the upcoming state elections. The deadline for establishment of precinct boundaries is April 3. The deadline for designating polling place locations is May 1. I have the following recommendations for council action. 1. Establish four precincts in the City. Three of the precincts would divide the City into three areas of almost equal population. The fourth precinct would be nested within the southernmost of the three larger precincts and would include the portion of the City that is located in Independent School District 623. The separate precinct for the City portion of ISD 623 would eliminate the potential voter confusion that arises whenever the school districts have either offices or questions on the ballot by eliminating the split precinct that currently exists. These two precincts would be identified as Precinct 1 (ISD 621) and Precinct 1a (ISD 623). 2. Establish a combined polling place for Precincts 1 and 1a. This would enable the City to assign a single set of election judges to administer the election for both precincts at a single location. 3. Locate all City polling places at the North Heights Lutheran Church on Highway 96. This facility has several advantages. It is centrally located,just down the street from City Hall and has easy access from both Highway 96 and Hamline Avenue. It is large enough to easily accommodate the all of the voters in the City. And it has extensive parking facilities. The City of Mounds View, which has 6,700 registered voters and has also established four precincts, has located all four of its polling places at a central location, namely the Mounds View Community Center, for over ten years. Their experience doing so has been uniformly positive, both from an administrative standpoint and from the voters' perspective. After meeting with Mounds View, they have told me that would have no reluctance recommending that we do the same in Arden Hills to serve our 6,100 voters. (Note: my office administers the elections for the City of Mounds View, in a similar manner as our arrangement with Arden Hills.) From my perspective, having everyone in the City vote at a single location enables me to more efficiently staff the polling places with election judges, reduces the cost of supplying and transporting election materials as well as the voting equipment to and from the polling places, and makes communications with the voters simpler. The City currently has a polling place at Presbyterian Homes. Due to construction, this location will not be available for use in 2012. As a result, it will be necessary to relocate this polling place location in any event. The City also has a polling place at Valentine Hills School. In our past experience conducting the school district elections in 2009 and 2011 from this location, we found that the parking for voters is inadequate, particularly in state elections when the voter turnout is high, since most spaces are taken by the teachers and staff. In addition, the space made available to us at the school is less than ideal. Finally, I anticipate that we are not far from having the legislature authorize us to use vote centers, which are facilities where the voters from many precincts are able to vote on the days before the election as well as on election day. Having some hands-on experience operating out of one facility for all City voters would be of real value to us and our voters. Both precinct boundaries and polling place locations can be changed by the council if needed in the spring of each state election year. As a result, any decision made this year could be revisited in 2014 based on our operational experience in 2012. Please let me know if you have any questions about either the proposed precinct boundaries or the single location for our polling places. I Arden Hills -'""_Ur: 6 Count Rd I W :ounty Rd.l i Gtr ty.Hig way 3. 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