City Considers Redistricting Its' Voting Wards

The City of Falls Church is considering a redistricting plan for their voting districts that would reduce the number of voting wards from five to three, addressing the issue of inadequate polling centers and a considerably uneven share of registered voters per ward.

Falls Church election board representatives presented a plan to redraw the ward boundaries, eliminating the Scout House and American Legion as traditional polling centers.  According to the Electoral Board, the shift would save the council money and improve service for voters on Election Day. The council voted 4-2 to redistrict the wards for the first reading, with a second reading scheduled for Nov. 14.

Access to polling centers, parking spaces, and overall service for voters were considered by the Electoral Board in their research concerning the redistricting process.  The Scout House polling place was a particularly central issue, as it remains the only polling place that charges the city for use on Election Day and has overall inadequate heating and air conditioning systems making voting typically a climate unfriendly process for voters.

The Code of Virginia states the various guidelines for building structural requirements and other factors regarding when it comes to redistricting. Prior to the reduction in wards, the city would need pre clearance approval from the Department of Justice, a 60 day process. Therefore, the council would need to give its’ final approval no later than December to allow for the Presidential Primary Elections in March of 2012 to occur within the reduced ward proposal.

Mayor Nader Baroukh was among the council members to vote against approval for the first reading, citing cost benefit and the questionable priority of the issue among his reasons for disapproving of the move to action on this issue.

“I’ve heard very loudly about other issues that the community needs to have resolved, that it needs to be heard and educated on, extremely loudly,” said Baroukh. “For me this is an issue of priority. This to me is extremely important, the question is does it have to happen now, based on all of our other priorities. I’m not hearing that this is an issue for our voters right now.”