Plan for Precincts, Districts Takes Shape After Census Shows Big Population Hike

Braintree right now has its second largest population ever – just a few hundred people less than the town's 1980 peak of 36,243 residents. And with the growth of the last decade, shown in the 2010 federal census, comes a reorganization of political boundaries.

"You couldn't push the bubble around, you had to pop the bubble and reset the precincts," Joe Powers told the in a presentation on Tuesday night.

A map of Braintree submitted to the council proposes shifts based on the addition over the last decade of 1,916 residents, which puts the town's current population at 35,744. Those extra residents, as Powers noted, have not been spread throughout the community evenly, requiring a reformation of precincts and districts to stay within legal guidelines.

The town has 12 precincts, their boundaries based on Massachusetts General Law, and six districts, based on Braintree's charter. Some of them will be transformed more profoundly than others, but each will undergo at least minor changes. Approximately 4,300 inhabitants will find themselves in a different precinct once the proccess is complete, Powers said.

Though the approval of the new map must be expedited – the council will vote next Tuesday, May 24 at 8:30 p.m. to get it to the Secretary of the Commonwealth by the end of the month – any changes to residents' voting places will not take effect until the March 2012 presidential primary. Local voting, for councilors and other town officials, will not be effected until November, 2013.

The reason for the changes can be seen in a map of the current precincts drawn in 2001. Its corresponding table shows that nine of the 12 precincts are today either under or over their legal population levels.

For example, precinct nine has seen the largest increase since 2000, putting it about 1,100 people over the mandated 5 percent variance about the average. That medium number – 2,979 per precinct – was created by dividing the entire population of Braintree by the 12 precincts. No town in Massachusetts can have a precinct more or less than 5 percent away from the average.

Precinct nine contains Lenox Farms, a significant area of growth in town. Another residential complex, the Ridge at Blue Hills on West Street, for instance, contributed to a strong population increase in precinct four, also putting it over the acceptable 5 percent variance.

Because of both increases and decreases in precinct populations, the submitted map adjusts the boundaries of each precinct. Number nine, especially, will shrink physically to stay within acceptable levels, giving some land to precincts 11, 8 and 10.

The state crafted the map, which was then given to the clerk's office for preparation before going before the full council.

"Everything starts here at the local level and moves its way up," Powers said, referring to how re-precincting ultimately affects the ongoing changes happening at the state legislature and Congressional levels.

"We're looking at more people in the same space in town, so there's going to be an impact," Powers said. He added that a further step, reorganizing Braintree's six districts, will help eliminate most voter confusion.

His plan would get rid of the precinct designations one through 12 and replace them with 1A and 1B, 2A and 2B, etc., to correspond with the districts that are used in the council elections.

"What we're really doing is institutionalizing the concept of council districts," Powers said. "We're not a precinct-centric community anymore, based on our form of government."

No reservations were expressed among the councilors about the plan on Tuesday, though it was the first time they had a change to review the proposed changes. The council may ask the state for alterations to its proposal, but, in addition to the population limits, boundaries must be "composed of compact and contiguous terroritory," according to Massachusetts law, and must be bound by lines such as streets, streams, train tracks or other clearly visible geographic figures.

Information on any changes to voting place or precinct designation will be sent to residents and also presented to them during this fall's election.

Braintree may actually save money, Powers said, by switching the precinct names as he proposed because then a mass mailing could go out to every town resident with next year's local census instead of a separate informational campaign targeting just those whose voting places will change.

"Let's do it all at once and get it over with," Powers said.

Update: The fourth paragraph previously said that 2,800 inhabitants would be affected by the change. A revision from the Town Clerk's office puts that at 4,300.