Westwood Will Need An Additional Voting Precinct, Census Shows

WESTWOOD, MA - Westwood is going to need a fifth voting district because of the population increase over the last decade, according to U.S. Census data.

"The reprecincting is following the 2020 census results," explained Town Clerk Dottie Powers at a recent Westwood Select Board meeting. noting that the town's population has increased by 1,648 residents to 16,266 since the last census. This is a change of 11 percent.

A precinct can only have up to 4,000 residents. Westwood currently has four precincts, making it 266 current residents over the limit.

She presented a preliminary draft of the five precincts, noting that a polling location for the fifth one will need to be determined. These precincts "form the building blocks of legislative districts," and it is the responsibility of the local municipality to draw them, Powers noted.

In reprecincting, all districts must be drawn to capture roughly the same number of people. If a town's population equals more than 6,200 residents or a precinct contains more than 4,000 people, precincts must be reestablished. Each precinct must be within 5 percent of the town's average population. It must also have natural boundaries, such as streets or bodies of water.

"The law requires that legislative districts be redrawn on a periodic basis so that shifts in population will neither unfairly increase nor diminish a particular voter's voice in government," Powers explained.

The process is in its initial stages, with the changes going into effect on December 31. Concerns such as new housing developments and the potential for population growth in the next decade need to be analyzed, as the new boundaries will be in place for a decade.

A data packet must be provided to the town from the state census bureau by September 30. This will include the official total number of residents broken down by precinct as well as the proposed boundary lines.

The town will need to vote on these changes by October 30. After the vote, the results must be submitted to the Local Elections District Review Commission, or LEDRC, in the secretary of state's office.

Once the LEDRC approves the redistricting map, the Select Board must publish a map or description of the new precincts with their boundaries clearly defined. This information must be posted in public places and sent to elected officials as well as the Board of Assessors. All voters affected by the boundary change must be notified by mail.

"We have to make sure that at each polling place, we have at least 5 percent room to grow," Powers said. "And it's not 4,000 voters. It's [4,000] residents."