Milton Reprecincting Information - 2022

Local Review of the Federal Census Population Data

Every ten years, every town and city (except Boston) in Massachusetts must review the results of the Federal census population count, and submit a precinct map for approval by the State. To accomplish this task, the Secretary of the Commonwealth sends the Town Clerk its proposed precinct map adjustments, focusing purely on population numbers, without any consideration of neighborhood makeup. The Town Clerk, representing the town, works with the State to redraw its precinct borders to balance the population within the precincts so they adhere to a target range established by the State. The goal is to balance the population of the precincts to ensure equal representation by Town Meeting Members, while considering the neighborhoods, and geographic dividing lines. Once the Town Clerk and the State are satisfied with their joint draft map of the precincts, the Town Clerk reviews the proposed draft with the Select Board who must vote to approve the final map and legal descriptions for official submission to the State.

The Guidelines & Parameters of the Reprecincting Process

Massachusetts General Law Ch. 54, Section 6, Division of Towns into Voting Precincts

The goal of the effort is to evenly distribute and balance the population among the precincts in the towns and therefore the elected Town Meeting Members representing each precinct.

• Census-identified blocks cannot be split and the census numbers are the only ones that may be used.
• Every precinct's population must ultimately be within the 5% range provided of the target precinct population for that town as established by the State. If a Town's precincts do not fall within the target range, "reprecincting", consisting of redrawing the precinct lines, is required.
• No precinct may contain more than 4,000 residents/inhabitants.
• Each new precinct must be "composed of compact and contiguous territory".
• Precincts must be bounded by the center-line of streets or other well defined boundaries such as streams or other bodies of water, railroad tracks, power lines or other clearly visible geographic figures.
• The local Reprecincting plans, including the legal description and map must be approved by a vote of the Select Board, then submitted to the State by October 30, 2021. The Town Clerk certifies the vote and sends to the State for review and approval by the Local Election Districts Review Commission (LEDRC).
• The new precinct boundaries will be in effect for Milton's Town election in April of 2022.