The Galesburg Board of Election may take action at their January meeting to reduce voting precincts in the city from 26 to 21.
Commission Executive Director Lisa Watson says essentially fewer precincts are needed as the trend of voting early continues to gain traction.
About 37 percent of Galesburg voters cast ballots early in the November races, either at City Hall or by mail.
That’s up from nearly 28 percent in the 2012 Presidential Election
It’s Illinois law that allows the Election Commission to revise precincts within 90 days after each presidential election.
The law says ideally precincts will have around 600 actual voters but not more than 800.
No precincts got even close to 800 for November’s election in Galesburg, but as Watson tells WGIL all were well below 600.
“The precinct that had the greatest turnout was actually Grace Anglican Church, Precinct 26, and they had 414, so significantly below the state ideal,” Watson says.
The purpose of the proposed precinct reduction is two-fold; to comply with state law and to save money.
After the 2010 census the Board of Elections redistricted precincts for aldermen wards.
At that time, they eliminated five precincts from 31 to 26, which has saved the city $4,000 per election since.
With eight elections since the reduction, that’s a savings of $32,000.
If they cut five more precincts Watson says that she expects an additional $4,000 savings per election.
