• 

  Malden, MA (Verified Official)

  Malden, MA assigned this issue to Malden 311 (Constituent Services Representative)

  09/07/2022 · Flag Flagged
• 

  Carol Ann (Verified Official)

  

  Thank you for contacting us with your concerns about the polling locations on Primary Day. We are happy to share with you the process of how and why some locations were moved and why some residents now must vote in different precincts.

  In 2020, the Federal government held the decennial census as is mandated by Article I, Section 2 of the US Constitution. Once data was analyzed, any communities with increased population were promptly notified that they were required by Federal law to review and redistrict their ward and precinct lines. Malden’s population had increased so much in the past ten years, our eight wards that previously had been divided into two precincts each had to now be divided by three. Each precinct may contain no more than 4,000 residents, must be within 5% of the average of all other precincts, and must not result in the disruption of certain neighborhoods or minority voting blocks. They must be made up of “compact and contiguous territory” falling within established blocks by the US Bureau of Census and must not have disrupted the local districts of Representatives Donato, Ultrino, and Lipper-Garabedian. As you can imagine, fulfilling all of those requirements at the same time was no small undertaking. It is also the reason why we now have three ‘sub-precincts’ in the City making a total 27 voting precincts spread out between fifteen city buildings.

  The work of redistricting the entire City began with a team of people consisting of City staff, community members, and representatives of the Secretary of State’s Office, all overseen by the City Council. Each step of the way, the details were discussed and put up for public display during City Council meetings, Redistricting Committee meetings, multiple public hearings all of which were posted for public viewing according to open meeting law criteria. Public hearings on redistricting are not mandated by law but the City felt it was important to invite the residents to provide input and so held two hearings in addition to all the publicly held meetings during the months this process was underway.

  Once the changes were voted on by the City Council and approved by the State of Massachusetts the newly updated city lines were advertised on the City and Secretary of State’s websites, in the local newspapers, on all City social media accounts, and television by Urban Media Arts (formally known as MATV). With the mailing of the 2022 City Street Listing, the Clerk’s Office sent out a notice that provided a tear off reminder of each household’s new ward and precinct as well as the address of their new polling location. Additionally, the Mayor’s Office did a reverse 311 phone call in three different languages all in an attempt to responsibly notify the residents of the City of this new change that will now be with us for the next ten years until the next Federal census in 2030.

  Please view the attached picture and visit the following links for more information:
  https://www.cityofmalden.org/605/2022-Election-Information
  https://www.cityofmalden.org/DocumentCenter/View/4953/2020-Census-Results-presentation-October-2021?bidId=
  https://www.cityofmalden.org/alertcenter.aspx?aid=274
  https://www.cityofmalden.org/DocumentCenter/View/5076/20220322-Malden-Racial-Density-Dot-Map?bidId=

  09/08/2022 · Flag Flagged

Public commenting and status changes are not available for this issue.