The Daviess County Commissioners spent some time discussing an ordinance regarding the county’s voting districts at yesterday’s meeting.
The ordinance comes every 10 years in light of new census data. Daviess County Clerk, Janice Williams, had reported in a previous meeting that the population hasn’t changed much in the last 10 years.
Commissioner Ron Arnold was opposed to the ordinance which would keep the districts the same. Arnold noted he wanted the commissioners’ voting districts changed citing the population deviation between District 1; with a population of about 18,000, and Districts 2 and 3; with populations both under 10,000.
Commissioner Michael Taylor noted that changing the districts and moving Washington precincts into other parts of the county could be an issue in that the board could one day be dominated by all Washington residents and thus loose representation in other parts of the county.
Commissioner Nathan Gabhart also noted that entire county votes for all three commissioners due to the population being under 50,000. He also stated redistricting could be problematic due to the majority of county roads possibly being in two districts.
Ultimately, the ordinance passed 2-1 with Commissioner Arnold voting opposed.
