Saratoga Standard

The process of “one person, one vote”, which began a redistricting process more than a year ago, was formally completed last month with the release of polling place updates in the City of Glens Falls. The process was designed to bring equal legislative representation in a non-political way simply based on one thing – population data.   The process not only allowed each ward to have a slice of the downtown business district but also allowed each elected representative of the Common Council to remain within their respective wards.

“We are absolutely delighted to have this process fully complete” says Mayor Bill Collins.  “ I said from the outset, I didn’t want anyone in the City of Glens Falls to be worried about gerrymandering.  Bob Curtis and the entire task force undertook the process with 100% transparency.   The boundaries are fair, and the task force never took politics into consideration.”

Warren County GIS Administrator Sara Frankenfeld, who was instrumental during this process and volunteered her assistance to the City’s Redistricting Task Force, has provided this link of the new ward boundaries for residents to confirm which ward they reside in: https://warrencountyny.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/lookup/index.html?appid=bedb1683f1074c0d9ee1691dc82ff169&find=.   

A large majority of voters will find that their wards and polling places are unchanged.  However, some voters will find that their residences have been moved into a new ward and polling location as well as voting for a new city and county ward representative.  City residents who are in a new ward will be alerted to the change in their ward assignments by the County Board of Elections.

In the meantime, these are the official polling places within the City of Glens Falls: 

WARD                    ED              LOCATION                                                                             ADDRESS

WARD 1               ED 1          Abraham Wing School                                                 120 Lawrence Street

WARD 2               ED 1          Jackson Heights School                                              Sagamore Street

WARD 3               ED 1          Sanford Street School Logan St Ent                          10 Sanford Street

WARD 4               ED 1          Church of the Messiah - Parish Hall                          296 Glen Street

WARD 4               ED 2          Church of the Messiah - Parish Hall                          296 Glen Street

WARD 5               ED 1          Village Green Apartments                                           1 South Delaware Avenue

WARD 5               ED 2          Village Green Apartments                                           1 South Delaware Avenue

“In October 2021, the Mayor’s Office and the City of Glens Falls Common Council were made aware by local attorney, John Caffry, that the city wasn’t in compliance with the 1964 Supreme Court ruling ‘one person, one vote’ principle”, states Mayor Collins.  “In March 2022, Mayor Collins addressed this issue with the Common Council, and, in April 2022, the Common Council approved a resolution creating a new Redistricting Task Force.”

Former City Clerk Bob Curtis was appointed as chairman of the Redistricting Task Force.  Each member of the Common Council appointed a member to the Task Force and, as a result, a seven (7) member task force – which included Mary DeSantis, who was the vice chairwoman, as well Robin Barkenhagen, Nancy Kelley, Lee Braggs, Connie Bosse and Janet Dimanno – assumed the responsibility of reviewing the ward boundaries.

Because only one criteria – population data – would be used for making changes to the ward boundaries, the Redistricting Task Force noted immediately that there were wide variations in population.  Knowing that there should be no more than a 10% difference of 2,966 per federal law from the biggest ward to the smallest ward, that the city’s population within the five (5) wards was 14,830, it was realized that there was a 14.25% difference between Ward 1 and Ward 4.

The  Redistricting Task Force developed a map that resulted in the Second, Third and Fourth Wards having a population of 2,982 with Ward 1 having a population of 2,936 and Ward 5 having a population of 2,948 residents.  This resulted in a 1.55% difference in population between the five wards in the City of Glens Falls – much lower than the required 5% per New York State law.

The work performed by the Redistricting Task Force, which resolved the balance in population within the five wards, was approved by City voters during last November’s election.  It was recognized recently via resolution by the Warren County Board of Supervisors formalizing the redistricting changes which, in turn, have been filed with the New York Secretary of State.

For more information regarding this or any other issue, please reach out via e-mail at communicationsdirector@cityofglensfalls.com or tdrawbridge@cityofglensfalls.com.

If your issue is urgent or if you’re looking to speak with Mayor Collins regarding a formal comment, please call (518) 920-4884.

Original source can be found here.