Town Approves New Map of Braintree's Political Boundaries

The on Tuesday night approved an updated map of Braintree's precincts and districts that reflects the addition of nearly 2,000 residents over the last decade.

Each precinct has new boundaries, some having undergone larger changes than others. They also have new names, to match up with the town's six districts. For instance, District 1 now contains precincts 1A and 1B instead of precincts 1 and 4, though the actual geographical areas correspond to the previous district and precinct pairings.

This switch, not required by state law but rather a local matter, will eliminate much voter confusion, said Joe Powers, who took the map, created by the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office, and prepared it for the council to examine. Councilors .

Braintree has a total of 35,744 residents as of the April 2010 census, of which 4,300 will be affected by the precinct changes. But those boundary adjustments will not take effect until Dec. 31, 2011, meaning the first election where voters will see a difference will be during the March, 2012 presidential primary. District updates will not be reflected until the November, 2013 local elections.

Residents will receive information about the changes in their annual street listings report.

Massachusetts General Law requires that each community's precincts be adjusted for population every 10 years, coinciding with the federal census. Because of Braintree's increase, spread unevenly throughout the town, a number of precincts held more residents than the law allows and some held less.

Councilors voted 7-0 on two motions: to accept the precinct shifts and to adopt the new precinct names. Ronald DeNapoli and John Mullaney were absent.

For more detailed information on why and how the precincts were adjusted, see this previous Braintree Patch article: .