New Walton County Precincts Needed

[wrobert]

This is an election year for that position.

Nope. That position occurs in the off years in Walton County and I believe one other county in Florida.

 

[DuneLaker]

Did it change with the special election?

 

[wrobert]

Did it change with the special election?

Walton County has always been that way as far back as I can remember. It had something to do with the initial legislation. Bobby could probably answer that. But we just re-elected him during the 2006 election. The office is up again in 2010.

 

[DuneLaker]

Thanks for the clairfication. That is good news that our Supervisor of Elections Bobby Beasley would be able to look into this or give an opinion without having an election coming up right away. The discussion needs to start now to be ready for the redistricting that will follow the 2010 census.

 

[DuneLaker]

All right. Here are the numbers for registered voters by precinct, as of Friday, April 11, 2008. And WOW look at the voters crammed into Precinct 29, Miramar Beach -- 6,070. I don't care if half the voters vote early or by absentee, this is an imbalance that must be fixed. Precinct 14 in North DeFuniak is very large, too. Precinct 31 does not exist. Think it was eliminated some time ago. Precinct 32 Douglass has only 71 !!! Five precincts have less than 200 total voters each. A discussion on consolidation to save taxpayer money on polling places as well as provide a balanced voting opportunity across the county should take place. This election in 2008 could be more like 2000 than 2002, 2004 or 2006. Something should be done before the Primary or certainly by the General Election. Whenever, something has to be done. The right to an equal and fair vote is more important than people not being happy about making a change. At least be aware how unfair the precinct lines are and how this might affect open and honest elections. Some political operatives count on South Walton not showing up in the Primary for a number of reasons. This further dilutes the vote of South Walton until and unless this is remedied.

Precinct 1 Pleasant Valley -- 156
Precinct 2 Eucheeanna -- 664
Precinct 3 Glendale -- 588
Precinct 4 Darlington -- 260
Precinct 5 Paxton -- 617
Precinct 6 New Harmony -- 709
Precinct 7 Argyle -- 808
Precinct 8 Alaqua -- 617
Precinct 9 Gaskin -- 442
Precinct 10 Portland -- 612
Precinct 11 Freeport --2,975
Precinct 12 Red Bay -- 183
Precinct 13 Bruce -- 542
Precinct 14 North DeFuniak --4,225
Precinct 15 Pt. Washington --2,188
Precinct 16 Mossy Head --1,290
Precinct 17 Liberty -- 415
Precinct 18 Santa Rosa Beach-4,195
Precinct 19 Sandy Creek -- 313
Precinct 20 Chautauqua --1,251
Precinct 21 Caney Creek -- 134
Precinct 22 Valley View -- 239
Precinct 23 West DeFuniak -- 766
Precinct 24 Pleasant Ridge -- 661
Precinct 25 Children's Home -- 270
Precinct 26 Limestone -- 137
Precinct 27 Clear Springs -- 202
Precinct 28 Moores -- 208
Precinct 29 Miramar Beach --6,070
Precinct 30 Flowersview -- 114
Precinct 32 Douglass -- 71
Precinct 33 Choctaw Beach --1,097
Precinct 34 Rosemary Beach --1,070

 

[wrobert]

All right. Here are the numbers for registered voters by precinct, as of Friday, April 11, 2008. And WOW look at the voters crammed into Precinct 29, Miramar Beach -- 6,070. I don't care if half the voters vote early or by absentee, this is an imbalance that must be fixed. Precinct 14 in North DeFuniak is very large, too. Precinct 31 does not exist. Think it was eliminated some time ago. Precinct 32 Douglass has only 71 !!! Five precincts have less than 200 total voters each. A discussion on consolidation to save taxpayer money on polling places as well as provide a balanced voting opportunity across the county should take place. This election in 2008 could be more like 2000 than 2002, 2004 or 2006. Something should be done before the Primary or certainly by the General Election. Whenever, something has to be done. The right to an equal and fair vote is more important than people not being happy about making a change. At least be aware how unfair the precinct lines are and how this might affect open and honest elections. Some political operatives count on South Walton not showing up in the Primary for a number of reasons. This further dilutes the vote of South Walton until and unless this is remedied.

South Walton historically does not show up in a primary. Numbers are lower in all precincts but they are decidely lower in a primary in south Walton.

Precincts are handled by having larger places to vote, more machines, more workers at larger precincts than at smaller precincts. I can find no law that say precincts have to be the same in size.

There is not enough time to change precincts this election cycle and educate everyone before November. If this was started I would imagine you would get objections from a wide group of people, excluding you.

There is no extra money to take on a project like this.

 

[Matt J]

wrobert, have you looked over the Elections budget? Just asking.

 

[Lane Rees]

This could be easily accomplished with very little $$ if the SOE had interest, Robert .. this is not rocket science .. simply evening out the populations of the various precincts in Walton County to be more even and fair based on population across the county.

 

[wrobert]

wrobert, have you looked over the Elections budget? Just asking.

No, just making a logical assumption. There is a minimum expense for a precinct if it has 10 or 1000 voters. Each place has to be ADA compliant, the county has always handled that expense in the past. The BCC budget where the election funding comes from was reduced 9% last year. This year there will be a freeze if not a drop in revenue. All of this stuff has to be done by August 26th, as well as educating people about new precincts, printing new cards. And doing it in the biggest election cycle.

And on top of that, I have not seen an argument that precincts being different sizes causes any problems. The shift has been toward early and mail voting with participation at precincts falling. Would it not be cheaper to continue to educate people as to those options?

 

[wrobert]

This could be easily accomplished with very little $$ if the SOE had interest, Robert .. this is not rocket science .. simply evening out the populations of the various precincts in Walton County to be more even and fair based on population across the county.

How is it unfair now? Unfair to who? During the special election for the school tax, what was it, 89 out of 6000 showed up to vote in Miramar? Was it a problem for them waiting in line when we usually have 3000? I have never voted down there or even be there on election day. Are there lines and problems?