Redistricting: An Important Issue for Andover Next Year

Municipalities, such as Andover, which have seen considerable changeover the past decade - new houses, new neighborhoods, considerable growth in population - face the somewhat compelling task of redistricting the city's election precinct boundaries prior to the next election in 2012.

Here's a link to Minnesota Statute, 204B.14 that details this process:  https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=204B.14&year=2009 .

This should be an obvious and necessary undertaking by the City of Andover.  Looking over the election results at the Secretary of State's Elections web page, one can see quite a disparity between our 10 precincts.

In the 2006 election, out of over 12,500 votes cast in Andover, this is the percentage of voters from each of our Precincts (if all were split evenly, they'd each represent 10% of the voters):

Precinct 7:  14.7% (about 1860 voters)
Precinct 1:  11.8% (about 1480 voters)
Precinct 8:  11.3% (about 1430 voters)
Precinct 2:  11.1% (about 1400 voters)
Precinct 10:  9.9% (about 1260 voters)
Precinct 6:   9.9%  (about 1250 voters)
Precinct 9:   9.5%  (about 1190 voters)
Precinct 3:   8.1%  (about 1025 voters)
Precinct 5:   7.8%  (about  980 voters)
Precinct 4:   5.9%  (about 740 voters)

That's a wide disparity.  Each precinct has just one polling place to attend on election days.  Precinct 7 is about 2 1/2 times the voter size of Precinct 4 - over 1100 more voters came to the polls that day, and faced long lines, long waits, and arguably, a more arduous voting process.

In 2008, we had a Presidential election, and many more contests were on our ballot.  The disparity of voting numbers actually worsened in 2008:

There were nearly 15,500 voters in Andover in 2008.

Precinct 7:   16.6% (about 2560 voters)
Precinct 8:   13.1% (about 2020 voters)
Precinct 1:   12.4% (about 1910 voters)
Precinct 2:   11.9% (about 1840 voters)
Precinct 10: 11.8% (about 1830 voters)
Precinct 9:   10.3% (about 1600 voters)
Precinct 6:   10.3% (about 1590 voters)
Precinct 3:    9.2%  (about 1420 voters)
Precinct 5:    8.8%  (about 1360 voters)
Precinct 4:    6.0%  (about  930 voters)

You can draw your own conclusions, but clearly Precinct 7 needs to be reduced, while Precincts 4 and 5 need to be grown somewhat.  Arguably, Precincts 1,2 and 8 are too large at this time, while Precinct 3 is a bit small.  As currently configured, Precincts 6 and 9 - on either side of Precinct 7 - are about right.

Unfortunately, it isn't as simple as moving one or two neighborhoods north or south or east or west, because it will really be something of a domino effect by the time all the various shifts are settled.


This is the type of work that our experienced, hard working City staff will most likely be tasked to prepare your City Administrator and City Council for.  This is the type of detailed challenges that I like to tackle, and offer my informed opinions about.

I've been part of the Hennepin County AFSCME-Management negotiations process for the last three negotiation sessions.  This is the type of nuance that I bring to our preparations.  We send about 30-40 union members to work with three AFSCME Council 5 staff to negotiate with Management.  I take it upon myself to provide analysis of health insurance-related matters and job classification-pay scale data that the union side tries to work with as part of the negotiating process.

I was a part of the United Methodist Church of Anoka Finance Committee for about seven years, chairing the Committee for three years.  I prepared lists and breakdowns of the church pledging process for the Pastor and members of the Finance Committee.  I organized the call contact process, and devised a tracking method for contacts. 

This is the type of thorough preparation I would bring to the Council, if elected.

Have a good day!