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REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION Date: March 14, 2022 Item No.: 7.b Department Approval City Manager Approval Item Description: Consider Resolution Establishing Precinct Boundaries after Redistricting 1 B ACKGROUND 2 Redistricting is the process of redrawing the boundaries of election districts to ensure that the people 3 of each district are equally represented. It is typically done in the United States every ten years, after 4 the completion of the decennial census. In Minnesota, the process and timeline for redistricting is 5 goverened by statutes and the state constitution. 6 7 Redistricting must be completed before the state primary in 2022 (August 9). The State of Minnesota 8 released the legislative boundaries on February 15, 2022. Each city must reestablish all precincts 9 after state redistricting. For 2022 redistricting, cities are required to have precinct boundaries 10 approved no later than March 29. 11 12 Precincts are the basic geographical areas for organizing and administering elections. Each city must 13 have at least one precinct, with additional precincts necessary if the city is divided by additional 14 governmental unit boundaries (legislative/congressional districts). Within the requirements, cities 15 may create as many or as few precincts as suits the community. 16 17 Some of the requirements for precincts are that one precinct may not be split between more than one: 18 County 19 Congressional district 20 Legislative district 21 22 Precincts are not tied to population size, however precincts with large numebrs of registered voters 23 can become difficult to manage. While there is no specific requirement for popuation size, 24 historically Ramsey County –who administers our elections – has recommended precincts be 25 established with around 2000 registered voters to manage appropriately. With the increase in 26 absentee voting, this has changed what and how elections are managed and therefore some larger 27 precincts may be able to accommodate a larger registered voter population depending on a variety of 28 situations. Ramsey County has stated that because of our large number of absentee ballots that are 29 cast, we are situated well to accommodate a slightly larger number of voters per precinct. 30 31 An additional consideration when drawing precinct boundaries relates to polling places. Polling 32 places must be in or near the precint they are for. Precincts are established first, and polling locations 33 after. Ramsey County is responsible for identifying and securing polling locations for precincts, 34 although Roseville city staff work closely with them to identify locations. With the proposed 35 precinct boundaries, all of our current polling locations should be able to be utilized pending any 36 unforeseen situations, and only one additional polling location would need to be identified. 37 Page 1 of 3