County commission approves new voting precincts

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

The Alachua County Commission approved new precincts from the Supervisor of Elections at their April 26 meeting, including a new precinct and significant changes to some existing precincts.

Following the approval of new congressional and legislative districts by the Florida Legislature, all of Alachua County is in Congressional District 3, which also includes Bradford, Union, Baker, Columbia, Hamilton, Suwannee, Gilchrist, Dixie, and Levy counties, along with most of Lafayette and the western part of Marion County.

Alachua County is now in two state senate districts (6 and 9) and three state house districts (10, 21, and 22). Supervisor of Elections Kim Barton said that given the various constraints, her office had to add an additional precinct, Precinct 64. Many of the changes in existing precincts were determined by the new state house and state senate district lines, which are shown in red and blue, respectively, on the maps.

The new precincts are shown in the maps below. Barton said voters should watch their mail for new voter information cards that will go out before the August primary election and show their new precinct and voting location. 

Commissioner Anna Prizzia asked what would happen to the precincts if a court challenge to the congressional districts succeeds; the answer was that there would not be enough time at that point to change the precinct maps, so some precincts would have split ballots, with some residents voting in one district and some in another, depending on where they lived. That increases the cost of the election for the Supervisor’s office. Prizzia responded, “I hate to give you guys more work, but I certainly hope that some of those challenges come down.”

The board voted unanimously to approve the precincts and also to send a chair letter to the City of Gainesville, encouraging them to minimize precinct splits when they adopt the City Commission districts. 

Northwest corner

Northeast corner

Southeast corner

Southwest corner

Center