Where’s your district? New district voting map means voters need to do their homework
Fayette voters in nine different precincts are likely to have questions about which of the new geographic voting districts they live in, especially whether they will even get to vote on the two county commission and two board of education races.
Those nine precincts were split between two different voting districts to accomplish the creation of a five-district map that includes a specially-drawn majority-minority 5th District as directed by a federal judge to remedy a district voting lawsuit filed by the NAACP.
Because those precincts are split along new district lines, the best way for voters to determine which district they live in requires a trip to the county’s elections office in downtown Fayetteville, according to Elections Supervisor Tom Sawyer.
This year’s primary and general elections are for the Post 3 and Post 5 seats on the county commission and the Post 4 and Post 5 seats for the board of education.
The split precincts are as follows:
• #18 — Aberdeen, which is split between Post 3 and Post 1.
• #10 — Sandy Creek, split between Post 1 and Post 5;
• #7 — Hopeful, split between Post 1 and Post 5;
• #28 — Oak Ridge, split between Post 4 and Post 5;
• #8 — Morning Creek, split between Post 4 and Post 5;
• #1 — Blackrock, split between Post 1 and Post 5;
• #4 — Fayetteville East, split between Post 4 and Post 5;
• #29 — Jeff Davis, split between Post 4 and Post 5; and
• #14 — Whitewater, split between Post 2 and Post 3.
Under the new federally-mandated district voting format, residents will only be able to vote for the commission and board of education post associated with the district in which they live. U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten threw out the former at-large voting format that allowed voters to cast a ballot for all five seats on both governing bodies.
