Last Updated: September 13, 2011
When the next election comes around there is a very good chance Cottage Grove’s Ward 7 will have a zero percent turnout at the polls.
|
|---|
Why would this be? Does the Farmer's Almanac say the weather is going to be bad in Ward 7 that day stranding voters in their homes? Is it that Ward 7 voters will feel they have better things to do than get out and vote? Maybe they will be so disgusted with the choices that they figure staying home is their way of expressing their positions?
Well actually believe it or not none of these assumptions are the reason. The reason Ward 7 will have a zero percent voter turnout is that Ward 7 is where the Vilas Road pump station resides alone with no neighbors and as a result no voters,,,truly a ward without a vote.
So how did this happen? After finding out that the state legislature during the redistricting process mistakenly placed Village owned property in question into State Assembly District 46 where the Village land resides, Town Clerk Kim Banigan was made aware of the issue was quick to fix the mix-up.
That mix-up being that although the land in question was Village owned, it still fell within the Town’s political boundaries since the Village had failed to legally annex the property. Ward boundaries had already been set so moving the parcel from Ward 46 to 47 with the Town's land was not an option. So Ward 7 created as an official Town voting ward, but with hide nor hair of any voters
Banigan said she will send details of the issue to State Assemblyman Gary Hebl and State Senator Mark Miller’s offices as they requested. The Democratic lawmakers are planning to use the information to point out what they are calling flaws in the Republican majority legislature’s redistricting program.
 |
|---|