Charlottesville Voting Precincts

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Revision as of 19:07, 25 December 2022 by Jmh6d (talk | contribs) (→‎List of precincts: I had planned to include table showing neighborhoods within the existing precincts prior to "re-precincting" - unfortunately city property website now only shows changes reflecting the new precinct boundaries and polling places.)
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See also: Timeline of voting methods use in Charlottesville | Ward elections (History)

In Charlottesville, voters are assigned by residence to one of nine geographic areas (Voting Precincts), each with its own polling place. Citizens at addresses in the same precinct all vote at the same polling station.

Terminology

A "precinct" is a geographic area in a locality or town that is served by the same polling place as defined by the Virginia Department of Elections [1]

A "polling place" is the specifically designated location at which any qualified voter who is a resident of the precinct may vote as defined by the Virginia Department of Elections[1]

A "Voting district (VTD)" is a generic term adopted by the Bureau of the Census to include the wide variety of small polling areas, such as election districts, precincts, or wards, that State and local governments create for the purpose of administering elections. Some States also use groupings of these entities to define their State and local legislative districts, as well as the districts they define for election of members to the U.S. House of Representatives. In a nationwide cooperative program for the 1980 census, the Census Bureau gave States the opportunity to request use of these election precinct boundaries as the boundaries of census enumeration districts (EDs) or, in some areas, census blocks. The Census Bureau began using the term voting districts as it began planning for the 1990 census.[2]

List of precincts

Ward Precinct Number Voting Precinct (previous) Neighborhoods (previous) Polling Address (previous) Precinct Map
First 101 Recreation Precinct (101) Herman Key Recreation Center, 800 East Market Street Map
First 102 Clark Precinct (102) Clark Elementary School Gym, 1000 Belmont Avenue Map
Second 201 Carver Precinct (201) Carver Recreation Center, 233 4th Street NW Map
Second 202 Walker Precinct (202) Walker Upper Elementary School Gym, 1564 Dairy Road Map
Third 301 Tonsler Precinct (301) Benjamin Tonsler Recreation Center, 500 Cherry Avenue Map
Third 302 Johnson Precinct (302) Johnson Elementary School Cafeteria, 1645 Cherry Avenue Map
Third 303 Buford Precinct (303) Buford Middle School, 1000 Cherry Avenue Map
Fouth 401 Venable Precinct (401) Venable Elementary School Gym, 406 14th Street, NW Map
Fourth 402 Alumni Hall Precinct (402) Alumni Hall Main Ballroom, 211 Emmet Street Map

Revisions

The number of voting precincts changed in 2011 when the Johnson Precinct and Buford Precinct were created.[3]

2010 Census Tract Reference Map

Virginia Law Requirements

Redistricting

The Virginia Constitution Article VII, Section 5, provides that the governing bodies of counties, cities, and towns are to be popularly elected. The Constitution allows elections at-large or by districts (also called "wards") within the locality. If elections are by districts, the locality must redistrict each 10 years beginning in 1971.[4] Charlottesville’s five City Councilors are all elected at-large, meaning they do not represent a specific area within the city.[5] Virginia redistricting starts again in 2021. The current 1946 Charter, has the five members of City Council elected in staggered, citywide elections on a nonpartisan ballot. Any changes to the current voting system would ultimately require approval by the Virginia General Assembly since legislative approval would be needed to amend the city's charter.[6]

According to the publication Guide to Local Redistricting for 2011, "Twelve of the 39 Virginia cities elect council members from districts: Covington, Emporia, Franklin, Fredericksburg, Hopewell, Lynchburg, Newport News, Norfolk, Petersburg, Richmond, Suffolk, and Winchester. (Poquoson, Virginia Beach, and Waynesboro have districts used for candidate residence requirements, but elections are at large in these cities.) All cities with one exception have regularly scheduled council elections in May or November 2012 and even-numbered years. Charlottesville is the only city with a council election scheduled for November 2011 but the council is elected at large, and so the city will not be required to redraw council district lines." [7]

2010 Voting Precincts Population Totals

Charlottesville did not redistrict in 2011.

Data Source: http://redistricting.dls.virginia.gov/2010/Data/2010%20PL94-171/2010_VTDs.pdf
Note: Should Charlottesville choose to redistrict after the 2020 Census, projections based on 2010 Census data would indicated the Fourth Ward may need to shrink and Second Ward may need to grown by the same amount. Each ward has to end up within 5% of the average.

References