New BOC district maps approved

Logan said the districts were divided with an effort to keep each town in one district and represented by one commissioner. One of the maps that had been proposed would have divided Talmo and Arcade. Logan said this is the reason that map was not recommended.

“Each plan is a little bit of a tradeoff for something else,” Logan said.

Kelley Gary, chairman of the Jackson County Republican Party, spoke in support of the plan during the public hearing before the vote was taken. No one else spoke in support for the map, and no one spoke against it.

In December, members of the local Republican party accused the BOC of not moving quickly enough to get its districts redrawn.

The new redistricting plan will now be presented to the legislators for approval. It will then be sent to the Department of Justice for approval. It’s not known if this process will be completed in time for the 2012 election. If not, the new maps will be used for the 2014 election.