Partisan Rift Caused By Fairfield Voting District Debate

FAIRFIELD, CT — The question of whether Fairfield should redraw its local voting districts ahead of the 2022 election has created a partisan rift in town government.

The issue arose after a state commission established new legislative boundaries following the 2020 census, increasing the number of voting districts in Fairfield to 17.

In response, the Representative Town Meeting formed a redistricting committee to redraw local districts to better align with the new legislative boundaries and reduce the number of Fairfield districts from 17 to 10. At the same time, the Fairfield Charter Revision Commission has been considering recommending to selectmen that voters cast November ballots weighing in on charter changes, which could reduce the number of town meeting districts from 10 to nine.

Therein lies the divide. Democrats on the redistricting committee support rolling out the 10 new districts ahead of the upcoming election, while the committee’s Republican members prefer to wait until after November, to see if charter revisions affect the number of voting districts.

“I don’t see the reason why we need to rush this right now, only to possibly end up having to change it again,” said Republican committee member Pamela Iacono, who also sits on the Charter Revision Commission, at the committee’s last meeting March 29.

Democrat committee member Karen Wackerman felt differently.

“Why not finish what we started?” she said. “This is very, very frustrating and the wrong decision and not good for the town.”

In a forceful statement published on the Fairfield Patch, Wackerman received the backing of the Fairfield Democratic Town Committee, which argued delaying the redistricting would be confusing and expensive, and suppress voters.

“The Redistricting Committee must be called upon to finish the job they set out to do for Fairfield — fairly redistrict now so voters can exercise their right to vote freely, fairly, and without unnecessary cost to taxpayers or undue barriers this November,” the statement said.

In a statement of their own on the Patch, Republicans Iacono and fellow committee member Karen McCormack said the Democrats’ claims were “misleading” and “totally sensationalized.”

“We are asking to let the actual voters speak, but at the same time are somehow being accused of voter suppression,” they said, noting the local redistricting map is not due to the state until 2023.

Moving ahead with the map before November could result in some voters having to cast ballots in different polling places in 2022 and 2023, Iacono and McCormack argued.

During the committee meeting last week, Democrat member Hal Schwartz noted the current town charter dictated that the body complete the redistricting immediately following the census.

Democrat Registrar of Voters Matthew Waggner explained the town must provide a polling place in each district, but that if no suitable location can be found in a district, it is possible multiple districts could have a polling place in the same building. He also noted that one significant financial burden associated with having 17 districts instead of 10 was staffing.

The Charter Revision Commission was scheduled to discuss, and potentially finalize, its recommended governance model Monday.