Vote on remap set for Dec.

The Schererville Town Council filed a letter with the Lake County Election and Voter Registration Board to inform it that the council will be voting on a ward redistricting ordinance in December.

Schererville Council Vice President Tom Schmitt, D-4th, addressed the board Tuesday to let the members know that every 10 years the council redraws its ward maps in accordance with the census data. As the council draws its maps, it knows it “cannot bother” the precinct, senate districts and state representative districts, Schmitt said.

“Schererville in the last 10 years has had a pretty good shift in population in some of the wards. Our goal is just to redraw the wards to make it even on population lines,” Schmitt said.

Schmitt said staff has all the information needed to redraw the maps, and the work will be done on “a bipartisan effort.”

Board President Kevin Smith said until an ordinance is presented, no action was needed on the letter the town council submitted. But, Smith said he does not recall in previous years having to approve the redistricted maps of other towns.

Schmitt said he’s been involved in the last two ward redistricting processes in Schererville, and he agreed that back then no one from the council came to the election board to approve its ordinance. But, because it is “a real strange year” with census data being delayed, the council felt it best to inform the election board that the town will complete the ward redistricting before the end of the year.

Schererville has a staggered election system, where two council seats and then three council seats are up for election every other election year, Schmitt said. Each council member has to live in the ward they represent, but candidates run town wide, he said.

Lake County Election and Voter Registration Board Director Michelle Fajman said towns do submit their ward redistricting maps and it is submitted to the

board as a matter of record.

The majority of Lake County towns don’t have to submit their redistricting maps until next year, but because Schererville has a staggered election system the council has come forward to state it will do its ward redistricting in December, ahead of the January candidate filing deadline, Fajman said.

“Next year, toward the end of the year, (the board) will get a whole bunch of these. It’s just going to be a matter of record,” Fajman said.

Schmitt said if the council were to wait until next year to complete the redistricting, it could disenfranchise people from running for office.

“That’s why we felt that it’s very important to get this done,” Schmitt said.