City looking to avoid voting confusion in Oct. 7 runoff

TUSCUMBIA - City officials are taking steps to avoid confusion in October's mayoral runoff, after receiving complaints from some residents who were told they were at the wrong polling place in Tuesday's city elections.

Mayor Bill Shoemaker said Wednesday he has been fielding calls about the matter. He said anyone who is confused about where to vote in the Oct. 7 runoff can call city hall.

"We will work up a pad with the person's name and address and date they moved to their current residence, and we'll try to send them a message with information about where to vote," Shoemaker said.

District 3 Councilwoman Martha Smith said much of the confusion appears to involve whether voters are in her district or District 4.

She said district lines were established in 1988 by the federal courts when Tuscumbia changed from a commission form of government to one with a mayor and five council members who each represent a district.

She said some residents, particularly on and near Milton Street, had been allowed to vote in the wrong district in previous city elections.

"I don't know how that occurred," Smith said. "Somewhere down the line it happened, and we can't find where it was changed."

The council had contracted with White, Lynn and Collins to take the 1988 court order and draw districts accordingly, so the city would be assured of having proper boundaries.

Smith said the boundaries can be confusing, anyway. The district lines are drawn to assure there is at least one district with a majority of residents who are minorities and thus assure representation on the council.

She said part of Milton Street is in District 4 and part is in District 3. The line literally splits between two houses on the street.

"When I campaigned in 2004, I was confused about which district was mine," said Smith, who was unopposed this year in her reelection bid.

Shoemaker, who will face Wayne Burns in the runoff, said another problem stems from some residents moving from one district to another and not changing their addresses with the Colbert County Registrar's Office.

He said another factor is that voting precincts in city elections are different from those for elections in county, state and national elections. City precincts are specific to city districts to assure that each voter ballot contains the candidates for council races in their district.

City council districts don't matter in other elections, because there are no races that pertain to city seats.

Shoemaker said it would make sense for the city to ask Justice Department officials to redraw the lines to eliminate confusion and assure the districts are divided fairly for the 2012 election cycle. Smith agrees, adding that a U.S. Census will be taken in 2010.

"The better thing to do would be wait until the Census comes out, so we can redefine it according to what that shows," she said.

Bernie Delinski can be reached at 740-5739 or bernie.delinski@TimesDaily.com.