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Supervisor of Elections warns splitting precincts and 'islands' will raise costs, asks committee to use census blocks
Summary
Elections office outlined precinct structure, described 'island' precincts caused by splits across county commission and congressional lines, and recommended using census blocks, avoiding congressional splits and minimizing precinct splits to reduce voter confusion and budget impact.
The Orange County Supervisor of Elections office told the Mid Decennial Redistricting Advisory Committee on March 12 that how the committee draws new county commission lines will directly affect precincts, polling places and election costs.
Dan Helm, director of special projects at the Supervisor of Elections office, said staff must convert the committee’s final map into precincts and ballot styles, and encouraged the committee to avoid precinct splits and limit deviations that create so-called “island” precincts. “When you split precincts and draw lines willy-nilly through congressional districts, it creates a real problem with the way that we report our data to the state,” Helm said.
John (the data/GIS coordinator at the Supervisor of Elections) gave technical detail. He said Orange County currently has 259 precincts, about 216 polling places and 13 island precincts that require special handling. An island precinct is a small precinct split off from a parent precinct because county commission and congressional boundaries intersect; Helm and John said island precincts cause extra ballot styles, additional tabulators and more poll workers and thus higher costs.
Why it matters: precinct configuration affects voters directly — polling places, ballot delivery and voter notification — and changes can take the elections office two to three months to finalize after the county commission approves a map.
Recommendations and effects
- Use census blocks as the base geography for drawing districts so population and reporting align with state reporting requirements.
- Avoid splitting congressional districts whenever feasible; splitting across congressional lines creates administrative islands and reporting complexity for the Supervisor of Elections.
- Avoid splitting existing precincts where possible; precinct splits can require new polling locations and add substantial cost.
John showed examples where a single census block left outside a contiguous county commission boundary produced island precincts with as few as 25 active voters; the office also identified islands with zero voters that the office nevertheless must be prepared to support if residences appear.
Timing and budget sensitivity
Helm said the office has state reporting deadlines and that finalizing precincts and polling places after the county commission acts can take two to three months. He described possible cost savings if the committee redraws lines in ways that eliminate existing islands: “If you eliminate islands, we need less tabulators, less poll workers, less ballot styles, printing, sample ballots,” Helm said.
Staff offered to review committee maps and to work with the county attorney so the office’s technical concerns are considered during the committee’s deliberations.
