'Best-case scenario': Framingham City Council to vote on revised district maps

FRAMINGHAM — The City Council on Tuesday will vote on revised precincts and legislative district maps, just ahead of the Local Election District Review deadline of Dec. 15.

The new map is potentially going to look very different than one drawn by the city in September, in part to prevent a “nightmare” scenario of potentially 152 different ballot styles for a state primary — up from less than 10 — according to City Clerk Lisa Ferguson.

“What we were going to propose for the local district maps was completely different. It was organized. It looked nice. It kept everybody in their district. Everybody was happy,” Ferguson said during Tuesday's City Council meeting. “Then the (Special Joint Committee on Redistricting) released their map and it was signed by the governor and we have no choice now. We have to minimize the negative impact that it’s going to have on elections.”

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Following legislative district boundaries

Normally, municipalities create district and precinct maps first and state legislators create state legislative districts using those boundaries. But with the pandemic delaying the release of Census data, Massachusetts passed legislation allowing state legislators to draw legislative district boundaries before cities and towns could draw boundaries for local wards and precincts.

“There’s no question in my mind that the city, and all cities in the commonwealth, were done a great disservice by the Legislature taking it upon themselves to draw the lines instead of the traditional way of waiting for the districts,” City Council Chair George King said on Tuesday night.

Although following legislative district lines is not a legal requirement, there are practical reasons for following them — namely, not creating sub-precincts.

All new and revised precincts in Framingham must contain, within 5%, 2,680 residents. The number of precincts in the city will be increasing, from 18 to 27, effective Dec. 31.

The map approved by state legislators bisected, and in some cases trisected, precincts on the map that the City Council and the state Local Election District Review Commission approved in September.

A link to the new maps that Ferguson proposed will be posted on the Dec. 7 City Council Agenda ahead of Tuesday's council vote.

“What I did was I created this proposed map so that we could minimize the number of precincts that are being bisected. Unfortunately, the way that the legislative district lines are drawn, there are a couple of precincts that may be impacted,” Ferguson said.

Without a new map that takes the legislative districts into account, she said the situation could potentially be “disenfranchising voters and creating confusion.”

'Please don’t shoot the messenger'

A new version of the map she created to minimize that confusion would, however, remove some officials from inhabiting the precinct they serve, she said. Those elected officials would serve their terms but would need to run for re-election in different districts.

“Please don’t shoot the messenger,” Ferguson said. “It’s a complete mess. I know that people are confused, but I have been working on this for the last six months and this is the best-case scenario.”

Ferguson suggested other changes to offset that problem, namely “shuffling around” precincts in Districts 1, 2, 4 and 5 that would leave only one School Committee member outside their current district.

“Doing that for the benefit of a single elected official at the expense of thousands of residents that will have to have new representation, potentially, I don’t think that’s necessary,” said District 2 City Councilor Cesar Stewart-Morales of the changes to district 1 and 2. “If you’re in a different district, you run for that district and the best person wins.”

Ottaviani said he's more concerned with the prospect of having more than 150 potential ballot variations “than us having to run against each other.”

“Hopefully, (for) some of us, our stints will be over sooner rather than later,” he joked.

Other councilors reflected that sentiment, including Michael Cannon, John Stefanini and Phil Ottaviani. Stefanini also worried that increasing confusion would hurt voter participation and "protect incumbents."

"I've never heard a clerk use the word 'disenfranchise,'" Stefanini said. "We're confused right now trying to figure out a tie or failure to elect in one district. A recount with this would be ridiculous."

Lillian Eden can be reached at 617-459-6409 or leden@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @LillianWEden.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Framingham district vote: precincts legislative boundaries revised