City Eyes Changing its' Voting Wards Prior to Primary Elections

Falls Church City Council and Mayor Nader Baroukh took its' second reading of a proposed ordinance to reduce the city's number of voting wards from five to three at a work session Monday night.

Under the ordinance, the current polling venues of the Scout House on South Spring Street and the American Legion building on North Oak Street would no longer be used.

The new proposed wards would evenly distribute the number of voters in the City of Falls Church among each ward, with less than 3,000 registered voters per ward.

It would also address the current unbalanced distribution of voters, which allocates more than 2,500 voters to Ward 1, and less than 1,900 voters in each of the other four current voting wards.

Thomas Jefferson Elementary, Oakwood Apartments and the Falls Church Community Center would be kept as polling places.

If the city approves the reduction in voting wards by Dec. 12, the ordinance would need a pre-clearance approval by the Department of Justice, a process that takes 60 days. Thus, if the city approves the new voting wards at the Dec. 12 meeting, the new boundaries would become effective for the upcoming Republican Presidential Primary elections on March 6.

The Electoral Board reported little to no opposition to the reduction in ward from city residents, after holding a community meeting regarding the new wards in October and informing voters who cast their ballots at the current polling places in November.

"The one thing that's still out of opinion in my mind is the DOJ timing and how that plays out," Mayor Nader Baroukh said to the Electoral Board during the work session.

"I'd almost be supportive of doing a delayed effective date," Baroukh added.