AUBURN — State election officials have redrawn voting lines across Androscoggin County, chopping up Lewiston and Auburn while increasing the number of county districts from three to seven.
Each now includes about 15,000 people or one-seventh of the county’s population.
“It seems like a fair way to split up the county,” County Commissioner Elaine Makas said Monday.
The change was mandated as part of the new county charter, which voters overwhelmingly passed last fall. The charter requires the county commission to expand from three to seven members.
Currently, commissioners each represent one district.
Makas represents Lewiston. Beth Bell represents Auburn, Poland, Minot and Mechanic Falls. Chairman Randall Greenwood represents the county’s remaining nine towns: Durham, Greene, Leeds, Lisbon, Livermore, Livermore Falls, Sabattus, Turner and Wales.
The new lines — drawn by the Maine Legislature’s apportionment commission — divide the county into narrower slices, according to preliminary maps released by the Legislature.
In District 1, Makas, for instance, will represent only a downtown piece of Lewiston, which includes lower Lisbon Street, Little Canada and the Main Street corridor. The rural sections of the city have been split into a northern piece, which constitutes a second Lewiston district, District 2, and a southern section which has been joined with Durham and Greene. That’s District 3.
District 4 includes the towns of Lisbon, Sabattus and Wales. District 5 encapsulates the downtown Auburn. District 6 spreads across rural Auburn, Poland and Mechanic Falls. The final area, District 7, includes Minot, Turner, Livermore, Livermore Falls and Leeds.
The newly drawn districts will be used this week, when the commission will approve a new Budget Committee. Nominations to that group — two will be named from each district — will be submitted to the County Clerk’s office by Wednesday.
The districts will get their second use in 2014, when the county commission expands to seven members.
By then, the street-level maps drawn by the Legislature will by checked and double-checked by the Secretary of State’s office to account for every voter in the county, Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said Monday.
His office will complete its work by mid-December, prior to the Jan. 1 start of the 2014 election season, he said.
Makas believes the work will be worth it.
“I have the greatest respect for their work,” she said. “(But) I’m less excited about where the lines are and more excited about the fact that we can have a larger commission.
“Seven heads are better than three,” she said.
dhartill@sunjournal.com
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