The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
City aims for ‘minimal change’ in redistricting plan
MIDDLETOWN — Middletown residents may see some changes which will affect both their polling location and ballots when they hit the polls this November.
Following redistricting at the state level after the 2020 U.S. census, the city’s district lines shifted, moving some residents to different Congressional, Senate, and legislative districts. They will be voting for different candidates come fall.
At the local level, the city council is poised to vote on a new district map on Tuesday night, reducing the number of precincts in the city from 14 to 12 to reflect these state-level adjustments and shifting some of the city’s polling locations.
But Mayor Ben Florsheim said the change should hopefully be minimal for local voters, the majority of whom will still go to their same polling location, even if the candidates on their ballot are different.
“What that means practically speaking for a voter is that it’s possible that your state Senator, your state representative, and your member of Congress, might be different this time to vote,” he said. “You might be in a different district because those lines have changed a little bit.”
The plan would eliminate voting districts 13 and 14, but maintain nine polling locations, since Middletown uses some, such as Moody Elementary School, for two stations.
Documents show most of the districts are in the same locations as before, with the exception being districts 5 through 8, which will shift locations, per the proposal.
However, Florsheim says the majority of voters will be casting ballots in the same spot as the last election, even if their district lines have changed.
“(The registrars) tried to keep the impact on voters as minimal as possible,” he said. “Our job is to make sure they are convenient, accessible, and usable for residents
who have to go and vote… The much bigger impact will be who those representatives are in those seats. Those will change again for somebody if their district line changed.”
The most significant change in Middletown, Florsheim added, was to the city’s Congressional district lines. While once Middletown was predominantly part of the 3rd District, represented by U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, DConnecticut, the city is now more evenly split between the 3rd and the 1st Congressional District, which is represented by U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-Connecticut.
Florsheim said the northern and west sides of the city will now be part of the 1st District.
Republican Registrar of Voters David Bauer, said every active voter in the city will get a postcard informing them of their polling location and district number in case the information changed. Personnel will also be updating electronic voter database so residents can look up their information.
“The biggest effect is, we went from having not even 10 percent of Middletown being in the 1st Congressional district to something akin to 45 percent in the first Congressional District,” he said. “Middletown was a DeLauro place. Now it’s half a Larson place. [Voters are] going to see different names for incumbents on their ballot.”
Bauer said he suggested the council consider going down to seven polling locations since Middletown saw an increase in people who voted via absentee ballot vs. going to the polls.
But Florsheim said that the city wanted to keep things simple for voters, though officials may revisit the idea of cutting locations should the trend of voting absentee continue.
“We don’t want to be reducing options or causing confusion for voters now, especially since some of these locations are relatively new,” the mayor said.
Florsheim said there’s “minimal cost” with these changes, and some of it is reimbursed by the Secretary of State’s office, because the redistricting is a federal requirement. But other expenditures, such as keeping polls open, paying poll workers and taking out a public notice, will be borne by the municipality.
Florsheim estimated the costs associated with this are under $10,000.
For information, visit the registrar’s office at middletownct.gov or call 860-638-4950.