Chattanooga Times Free Press

County to redraw districts

BY SARAH GRACE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER

Hamilton County commissioners will begin the redistricting process Wednesday, as they are required to do every decade.

Commissioners will meet at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday to begin the process of drawing political district lines within the county.

Every 10 years, local elected officials redraw political districts in accordance with population changes reflected in each census to assure roughly equal districts.

The commission — which has nine districts, a number that could change during the process — will work with the election commission and county mapping experts to redraw districts.

Chairwoman Sabrena Smedley, R-Ooltewah, said all of the meetings will be open to the public.

“In my mind, that’s the only way to do it,” Smedley said.

Dates for future meetings have not been set, but they will be held in the commission chambers at the Hamilton County Courthouse on Georgia Avenue.

Hamilton County Election Administrator Scott Allen said last week that he hopes to have the information he needs from the commission by the beginning of December to give geographic staff time to redraw districts before the 2022 local elections get rolling.

The first day for candidates to pick up paperwork for the elections is Dec. 20.

“We’re facing a timeline that does not give us as much

time as we’d all like to have,” Allen said.

He also aims to cut down on the county’s 135 precincts to be closer to the 67 polling places.

“During the process we look forward to cleaning up some of our precincts and get that closer to the actual number of polling places that we have,” Allen said.

Contact Sarah Grace Taylor at staylor@timesfreepress.com or 423-7576416. Follow her on Twitter @_sarahgtaylor.

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2021-09-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

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