8 Election Redistricting 690 Ci{y Center Drive
PO Box 147
anhassen, Minnesota 55317
Phoile
952.937.1900
General Fax
952.93Z5739
ginee,qng Deparonent Fax
952.937.9152
uilding Deparonent Fax
952.934.2524
Web Site
,ww. ci. cha,t~asse,, m,. us
TO:
FROM:
DATE:
SUB J:
Mayor & City Council
Todd Gerhardt, City Manager/h~ r~.
February 20, 2002
Redistricting
Every ten years, the Minnesota Legislature redraws its legislative and
congressional district lines based on the population changes reflected in the
latest census. The purpose of redistricting is to establish election districts that
provide representational equality for all voters. While this is a very simplified
description of redistricting, it points to a very important component - the voters.
Redistricting assures equal representation not only in the U.S. House of
Representatives and the Minnesota Legislature-, but also locally in our counties,
cities, and school distriCtS.
The legislature should be making a decision on their redistricting plan on
March 19th or 20th. Once they act, the Secretary of'State Will notify the County
Auditor, and the Auditor will in turn notify us of the Legislature's plan.
Currently Chanhassen is in Legislative District 43 and Congressional District 2.
If, for instance, Chanhassen were split between two legislative or congressional
districts, our precinct lines would have to follow the newly established
boundaries. The city will have until April 30th to approve precinct boundaries
and establish polling places. (See Figure 3.0, City Redistricting Process,
attached).
Staff has prepared the attached map of Chanhassen's current precincts noting the
2000 census population as well as the projected 2010 population. From this
information and census block information, we are going to prepare a few options
for our precincts. Here are some things we will be taking into consideration:
· Precincts 5 and 6 are quite large and we will be looking at dividing them
into 3 precincts.
The area south of Lyman Boulevard will come into the MUSA Line in
2005, which will probably have an impact on our 2006 election Should
we expand to 8 precincts now or should we figure out how to handle one
large precinct in the future? According to the Secretary of State's
Office, we can divide precincts before the next redistricting process, but
there are some timing issues we'd have to follow (precincts are frozen
Mayor & City Council
February 20, 2002
Page 2
during the census process, before elections, etc.). However, changing
precinct boundaries in between the redistricting process could create a
burden on the County Auditor's Office and extra expense.
If we add 1-2 more precincts, we need to find more polling places,
judges, and purchase more voting equipment (included in the Capital
Plan).
Once staff establishes some options for redistricting, we will present this
information to the City Council for further direction. As noted previously, the
City Council must make a decision on precinct boundaries by April 30th.
Ward System
The Mayor has asked that research be done on what it would take for the city to
consider establishing a ward system and the procedures that would need to be
followed. Chanhassen is a statutory city. The League of Minnesota Cities
Handbook states that, "there is no provision in statutory city law for the adoption
of a system of wards. Only home rule charter cities may have wards." The only
exception for statutory cities is to seek special legislation authorizing the
creation of wards. Another option is to change our form of government to a
home rule charter, which.would require a referendum of the voters.
If this were something the City Council would like to consider, I would
recommend that we spend more time studying the issue. Perhaps the creation of
a study committee to review the options and pros and cons of this type of system
would be beneficial.
g:\userXkaren~redistricting.doc
2001 Minnesota Redistricting Guide
Figure 3.0
City RedistriCting Process
Minnesota Secretary of State's Office
54
Precinct Population
Precinct 6
2010 - 5391 Minnetonka Sch~ Distrid:
.'P~nct 1
,. . .
p~nct 2
20O0 - 2431
~o10 - 2422
Precinct 5
2000 - 4699
2010 - 5962
Precinct 4
School District Border
Precinct 1
Precinct 2
Precinct 3
Precinct 4
Precinct 5
Precinct 6
Precinct 3
2000 - 29~3
2010 - 5395
N