Malia Riggs
Elmore Autauga News
The Prattville City Council has yet again opted to hold over the ordinance for the long-awaited redistricting maps.
Councilman John Chambers made a motion to hold this ordinance over until the Nov. 5 city council meeting due to Councilman Tommy Merrick being absent from Tuesday evening’s meeting.
“I’d like to think that Councilman Merrick would like to participate in this, and he had a commitment that has sent him out of town so he could not make this meeting, and so I’d like to make that motion please,” Chambers said.
The vote was unanimous to hold over the redistricting ordinance until the next city council meeting.
Members of the public have outwardly spoken of their displeasure through the redistricting process, and Tuesday evening was no exception. One community member stated that other maps should be reconsidered due to moral and ethical dilemmas that have allegedly occurred throughout the redistricting process.
Municipal redistricting occurs after each Census, which happens every 10 years. Local officials are required to redraw the boundaries of their districts to best represent their constituents, from which people elect the City Council, and to account for population and demographic shifts since the previous census.
Due to the recent 2020 census and a large population influx, the City of Prattville has continued the process of redistricting they started in June of 2021. The last redistricting map was adopted in 2010.
Once the map is voted on, and everything is submitted to the probate office, information will be sent to each voter in all districts. That will include information on how and where to cast a vote and other pertinent municipal election information.
In the Aug. 20 city council meeting, the council heard from Autauga County Probate Judge Kim Kervin. At that time, she stated the sooner the plan gets to her office the better. This is to ensure the process of putting in the new addresses and establishing polling locations in each newly drawn district is done before next year’s council election.
Kervin stated that for their process, it is easier to have the information about a year out to ensure not only accuracy but to give the probate office time to check and verify addresses for the election that is now even less than a year away.
