(A) (1) The county, by and through the Board of Commissioners, hereby establishes precincts for the county.
(2) A precinct description and map of the boundaries of each precinct established and submitted to the State Election Division is incorporated herein by reference.
(2) This section shall become effective upon the approval of said precincts by either the State Election Division (provided no objection is filed by a voter of the county by 12:00 p.m. ten days after the publication of notice of the proposed precinct establishment order); or upon the approval of the State Election Commission after hearing on an timely objection filed by a voter of the county, all pursuant to the provisions of I.C. 3-11-1.5.
(B) The Board of Commissioners shall update as provided the changes to the County Council districts as follows:
(1) The County Council shall continue to be divided into four districts;
(2) Pursuant to I.C. 36-2-2-4, the Board of Commissioners shall divide the county into four districts that:
(a) Are composed of contiguous territory;
(b) Are reasonably compact;
(c) Do not cross precinct boundary lines;
(d) 1. Contain, as nearly as possible, equal population.
2. The County Commissioners, in determining population, have relied on U.S. Census Data from the 2020 Census, as provided by the state.
3. All population figures contained in the ordinance codified herein are from the aforementioned data source; and
(e) The County Commissioners have attempted to redistrict the County Council boundaries in such a way as to keep all townships whole.
1. Where the Commissioners have deviated from townships boundaries, it was done in an effort to appropriate the districts populations as equal as possible.
2. In addition, the Commissioners considered population trends in making their final decision.
(3) The new districts populations are approximately as follows and the description of the division of the district boundaries are as follows pursuant to I.C. 36-2-3-40.
(4) The County Commissioners have prepared a map showing the new boundaries of the districts pursuant to I.C. 36-2-3-4(h):
(Ord. 2014-XII, passed 10-24-2014; Ord. 2013-X, passed 8-6-2013; Ord. 2021-25, passed 12-7-2021)