South Central Reporter

Macoupin County Re-Apportionment Committee met Oct. 18.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

I. CALL TO ORDER

PRESENT: Schmidt, Dunnagan, Kiel, Wiggins, Duncan

ABSENT: Dragovich, Armour

II. AGENDA ITEMS

1. Discussion of 2020 Census, County Board Districts, and Precincts

Clerk Duncan passed out a sheet with the 2020 census results broken down by precinct within the 9 County Board districts. There was a data from the 2000 and 2010 census as well to show the trendline. Overall, the county's population dropped by 2,798 people from 47,765 people to 44,967.

State statute specifies that the Board districts should be as close to equal in population as possible. The statute also says that municipalities and townships should only be divided when necessary to get to as equal in population as possible. Precincts should only be in one Board district, in so far as possible.

The committee felt that the current Board map was sufficient in being close to equal in population but asked how that would effect potential changes to the precincts.

There are currently four townships that split between Board districts on precinct lines: Girard, Cahokia, Carlinville, and Shipman. There were two potential townships with issues in terms of the precincts Cahokia and Shipman.

Shipman currently is three precincts, 1 and 2 are in District 3 to the south while 3 is in District 6 to the north. If the committee wanted to follow having precincts only be in one board district, that would mean that Shipman would need to remain 2 precincts instead of combining it down to one which could be done based on the state statute range for precinct size. After some discussion, the committee felt that moving Shipman 2 from District 3 to

District 6 would help the issue.

In Cahokia township, precincts 3 and 5 are in district 5. Precincts 1, 2, and 4 are in district 4. Precincts 2 and 5 represent the city of Benld. Based on the population numbers, putting precinct 5 into District 4 and then moving precincts 1 and 4 into District 5 would bring both districts closer to the ideal population and would not divide a municipality. The committee felt that move made sense.

Overall, the committee felt that the Board map should remain the same with the small changes of moving Shipman precinct 2 into District 6 and then also moving Cahokia precinct 5 into District 6 while moving Cahokia precincts 1 and 4 into District 5.

Clerk Duncan then passed out a sheet that had each precincts registered voters total comparing it back to the 2000 and 2011 elections. If the Board wanted to consolidate precincts, the state statutes currently says that the precincts in townships that are split to have more than one precinct should have no less than 500 and no more than 800 registered voters, as practically as possible. Many of the county's precincts do not match, with the largest precinct having over 1,500 voters while the smallest has 166.

The committee discussed the pros and cons of having Shipman township as two precincts instead of the current three. The committee felt moving it to 2 with Shipman 1 remaining the same and Shipman 2 and 3 becoming the new Shipman 2.

On Cahokia township, the committee discussed options and decided to merge Cahokia 2 and 5 into Cahokia 2 and combine Cahokia 1, 3, and 4 into Cahokia 1.

The committee then moved onto Nilwood township. It was quickly decided to combine the two precinct into one as that township would still be well below the 500 voter minimum.

The committee decided not to change Girard township so it would line up with the County Board districts.

The committee discussed Carlinville township. The city of Carlinville had recently reduced from 4 to 5 wards, and precincts had never been redrawn to match those wards. Clerk Duncan said they could do that or just merge Carlinville 4 and 6 into one precinct and call it a day. The committee decided to go the route of merging Carlinville 4 and 6.

Gillespie township currently has 6 precincts. The committee decided to merge Gillespie 1 and 2 together, leave Gillespie 5 as is and rename it Gillespie 2, and then combine Gillespie 3, 4, and 6 into one precinct.

For Dorchester township, the committee decided to combine the township into one precinct.

Mt Olive township they discussed different options. There was a discussion of cutting it down to 2 precincts, one that would put all the precincts that make up Mt Olive city together and then the Sawyerville and White City precinct together. They also discussed putting the Sawyerville and White City precinct with one of the city precincts and combing the other three precincts. The committee decided to instead combine Mt Olive 1 and 5, Mt Olive 2 and 6, and finally Mt Olive 3 and 4.

The committee decided to put a pin in Staunton township for tonight to get the ward maps.

On Brighton township, the committee looked at combining Brighton 1 and 2 into one precinct.

In Bunker Hill, the committee discussed combining it into 2 precincts and using the Brighton-Bunker Hill Road as a the cut off, though they would need to review voter counts based on that new line.

The committee also reviewed Virden township and discussed combining it into two precincts, but wanted to make sure they had the correct precinct and ward boundary lines.

The committee agreed to meet again the following week, either Wednesday or Thursday to finalize their proposals and then to have another public hearing on Tuesday, November 2nd and invite the whole Board to give them the chance to hear the proposals and review them before the full Board meeting to hopefully help allow all members to know the full details of the proposal before voting on it.

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