Politics & Government
No Need for Change in Westwood Precinct Lines
All four precincts in Westwood will remain unchanged following data from the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau.
Although Westwood's population increased from 2000 to 2010, the lines to the four precincts within the town will remain unchanged, town officials said last week.
State law mandates legislative districts to be redrawn on a periodic basis to coincide with census and population changes, according to Westwood Town Clerk Dottie Powers.
All cities, save Boston, and towns, save Nantucket and Rockport, are required to establish ward and precinct lines every 10 years, Powers said, following the federal census on a number of requirements if:
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- The wards of a city or town don't contain an approximate equal number of residents so that each ward's population is within 5 percent of the average
- A ward not divided into precincts comprises more than 4,000 residents
- A town comprises more than 6,200 residents, or
- A precinct comprises more than 4,000 residents
The state legislature and local governments throughout the state redraw boundaries that take population, communities of interest, and state and federal constitutional requirements, into consideration. Essentially, districts are redrawn so as to contain an equal number of inhabitants.
But for Westwood, no change was needed.
Find out what's happening in Westwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
"We had no significant changes in any of our four precincts, and our population grew by 3.55 percent from the 2000 federal census figures," Powers said.
Westwood's total population for 2010 was 14,618 - an increase from 14,117 in 2000. Last week, Powers reported that no change was needed to the precinct lines in a brief update to the .
"Even if a city or town does not need to redraw their precinct lines because their existing plan remains in conformity with the law, as in our case, they must still file all the necessary information based on the latest federal census figures," Powers said.
That plan, she added, must then be re-approved by the Local Election Districts Review Commission.
A precinct is the smallest geographically-bounded unit used for state election purposes (each of Westwood's four precincts comprises one polling station during local and state elections).
The population for each precinct in Westwood, based on the 2010 census data, is as follows:
- Precinct 1: 3,668 (Variance: .36)
- Precinct 2: 3,763 (Variance: 2.95)
- Precinct 3: 3,698 (Variance: 1.18)
- Precinct 4: 3,489 (Variance: -4.54)
The target population for each precinct was set at an average of 3,655, which means Precinct 4 was closest to reaching outside the window of 5 percent, as it was 4.54 percent below that average.
In March, shortly after the U.S. Census Bureau released the 2010 results, Powers said she thought that came in, as there was a discrepancy in the federal numbers when compared to the numbers calculated at Westwood Town Hall, which Powers said at the time were higher. Those numbers were later validated.
"The reason for the discrepancy with figures from the state database, which has local census figures, is that the federal census looks at who is residing in the town as of April 1 of the given year," she said. "In this case, there are residents away at college, who are actually counted where they are going to college, and those 'snowbirds' who live in a warmer climate for six months of the year. The federal census is the number we really have to rely on for federal funding."
For more information about the U.S. Census, click here.
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