Redistricting Adds Four New Voting Districts

Hillsborough will gain four new polling districts this year, as a result of the Somerset County Board of Election’s adjustment of voting district boundaries in 13 of the county’s municipalities.

According to the Somerset County Board of Elections, low voter turnout or excessive voter registration in certain districts necessitated the adjustments, pursuant to state election law. Title 19 of the New Jersey Election Laws requires an election district to be split if the total voter registration count in that district exceeds 750 registered voters and any election district with a voter turnout of less than 250 voters for two consecutive general elections should be combined with a contiguous election district.

In Hillsborough, eight districts—districts one, nine, 13, 14, 16, 19, 23 and 29 were split—and five districts—districts 12, 17, 21, 27 and 28—were merged, Jerry Midgette, Somerset County Board of Elections Administrator said.

“The voter (numbers) in all of the districts varied,” Midgette said.  “Some had well into the thousands.  Some were into the hundreds.”

The new voting districts and polling locations will be determined by recommendations from municipal clerks, though the splits and consolidations mean the new districts might not be immediately clear, Midgette said.

“You’re not going to get a clear demarcation because some were split and some were consolidated,” he said.

The township and board of elections are looking at potential sites currently, according to Township Administrator Mike Merdinger.  While he could not release the changes since the Board of Elections has not approved them yet, he noted that the town would have 33 election districts instead of 29.

“A lot of the districts are changing a little bit,” Merdinger said.  “They are playing with the numbers.   We are reviewing it and nailing it down and there is still working to make it official.”

New poll locations will need to be approved by the Board of Elections during its next meeting, Midgette added.  Notices are expected to be mailed to voters prior to the April 27 school elections.