Politics & Government
Hingham's Precincts Change
Precincts 1-4 will now vote at the high school, 5-6 at the middle school and 6a remaining at Linden Ponds.
It may have been a short agenda for the selectmen last night, yet the proposed 2011 Re-Precincting Plan for the Town of Hingham was worthy of careful consideration and discussion.
Using the information obtained from the Federal Census of 2010, the state has made adjustments to the voting precincts in the town with several boundaries changing, requiring some residents to cast their vote at a different location from their current one.
Eileen McCracken, town clerk, presented selectmen John Riley and Bruce Rabuffo with detailed information showing the proposed changes, the population numbers in each precinct and the reasons for the changes.
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The major boundary changes have occurred in Precincts 4,5 and 6. Precincts 1 and 3 will remain unaltered. Precinct 2 has a slight change due to proposed building projects and the sub-precinct of 6a will still be counted as a separate entity.
Precinct 4 now includes the area around the high school. Adjustments made to precinct 6 include the area on both sides of Main Street near the middle school voting location.
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In the past, residents who live near the 3A end of Hingham have had to travel to the Middle School to vote while those who live near the Weymouth border have been required to journey to the high school. This will now change with Precincts 1-4 now voting at the High School, 5-6 at the middle school and 6a remaining at Linden Ponds.
McCracken believes that the proposed changes are good for the town.
“Instead of what we have now with Precincts 1,2,3 and 5 at the high school and 4 and 6 at the middle school, we will be changing so that 1,2,3 and 4 will be at the high school while 5 and 6 will be at the middle school.”
In the absence of selectman Burns (away on Town business), the selectmen voted to accept as presented the 2011 Re-Precincting Plan for the Town of Hingham. The next stage of this process is for the plan to be approved by the Local Election District Review Commission (LEDRC). Once approved by the LEDRC, the precinct and ward boundaries will become effective on December 31.
