Candidate Filings Begin Wednesday; Some Precincts Changed
Candidate Filings Begin Wednesday; Some Precincts Changed
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Candidate Filings Begin Wednesday; Some Precincts ChangedLocal candidate filings for the May primary begins Wednesday, Jan. 5.
The last day to file for office is noon Feb. 4.
School board candidate filing begins July 27 and ends at noon Aug. 26.
County offices on the ballot in 2022 include prosecuting attorney, auditor, recorder, sheriff, assessor, southern district commissioner; county council districts 1, 2, 3 and 4; township trustees, township advisory boards (three seats per board), Milford town office, Syracuse Town Council districts 1 and 2, Winona Lake Town Council districts 3 and 5, Democrat precinct committeemen (primary election) and state convention delegates (primary).
County commissioners are voted on countywide, not just by voters in a district.
County council districts 1-4 will only appear for voters who reside in their districts. Voters will not have every council district on their ballot. County council at-large appears on every ballot, but are only voted on in presidential election years.
Effective October 2021, state and U.S. districts, per the 2020 Census, are as follows:
• Indiana State Senate, 9th District: Etna, Jefferson, Plain, Prairie, Scott, Tippecanoe, Turkey Creek, Van Buren; Wayne 1, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 13; city of Warsaw, Wayne 2-Winona Lake, Wayne 8-Warsaw.
• Indiana State Senate, 18th District: Clay, Franklin, Harrison, Jackson, Lake, Monroe, Seward, Washington; Wayne 2, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 12.
• Indiana State Representative, 18th District: Tippecanoe, Turkey Creek.
• Indiana State Representative, 22nd District: Clay, Etna, Franklin, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Lake, Monroe, Plain, Prairie, Scott, Seward, Van Buren, Washington, Wayne and city of Warsaw.
• U.S. Congressional, 2nd District: Clay, Etna, Franklin, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Lake, Monroe, Plain, Prairie, Scott, Seward, Van Buren, Wayne (except Wayne 12) and city of Warsaw.
• U.S. Congressional, 3rd District: Tippecanoe, Turkey Creek, Washington and Wayne 12.
• U.S. Senate, two senators elected every six years, last elections in 2022 and 2024 and next elections in 2028 and 2030.
In a letter explaining 2021-22 precinct consolidations, Ann Torpy, clerk of the Kosciusko Circuit and Superior Courts, wrote that, in 2018, the County Commissioners filed an order establishing precincts with the Indiana Election Division to update the boundaries of certain precincts located in the city of Warsaw. This order was to correct the precinct boundary lines to follow the City Common Council Districts. The Indiana Election Division and the Office of Census data approved the order in 2018. The county made corrections to their precinct maps and voter registration data to reflect the approved order.
During the 2021 redistricting process, the Office of Census Data reverted the precinct boundary lines, which the Indiana Legislature made into law the maps provided by the Office of Census Data. This error required Torpy, who had made changes to the county voter registration records in 2019 based on the approval of the Election Division and Office of Census Data, to submit data to the IED and Office of Census Data so the lines match what the county has on record.
Based on Indiana code, newly established precincts cannot have less than 600 active voters. Since the corrections change the boundary lines to the precincts, state law interprets that as a “newly established precinct”; therefore, several precincts in the city of Warsaw are well under 600 active voters. The clerk had to consolidate several precincts to accommodate Indiana code. Below is a list of precincts that will no longer exist and the precinct they are now located.
• Plain 6 is consolidated within Plain 2.
• Ward 5 Precinct 2 is consolidated within Ward 1 Precinct 2. This precinct was changed by the city in 2012 to a different city common council district as previously indicated by the ward the precinct was located in. The new ward will now match the correct city common council district.
• Ward 5 Precinct 3 is consolidated within Ward 5 Precinct 1.
• Ward 3 Precinct 3 is consolidated within Ward 4 Precinct 1. This precinct was changed by the city in 2012 to a different city common council district as previously indicated by the ward the precinct was located in. The new ward will now match the correct city common council district.
• Ward 4 Precinct 2 is consolidated within Ward 4 Precinct 1.
• Ward 4 Precinct 3 is consolidated within ward 4 Precinct 1.
• Ward 2 Precinct 2 is consolidated within Ward 2 Precinct 1.
The city of Warsaw will now consist of the following precincts for 2022: Ward 1 Precinct 1, Ward 1 Precinct 2, Ward 1 Precinct 4, Ward 2 Precinct 1, Ward 3 Precinct 1, Ward 3 Precinct 2, Ward 4 Precinct 1, Ward 5 Precinct 1 and Plain 5, according to Torpy’s letter.
The Warsaw Community School Board is also affected by this change. Torpy’s remedy to this will be having a ballot for both school board districts within the precincts affected, since there is no other way around the precinct size requirement by state law.
Kosciusko County will now have 64 voting precincts and three non-voting precincts.
The city of Warsaw and town of Winona Lake have annexed areas within the following precincts: Wayne 8 and Wayne 2. Because these annexations split a census block, Torpy said they were unable to change the annexed area to precincts located in those towns. For example, the annexation in Wayne 8 would have been made a part of Warsaw 3-1. Since they were unable to do so, this portion of Wayne 8 will be referred to Wayne 8-Warsaw and the portion of Wayne 2 will now be referred to Wayne 2-Winona Lake. Residents within those areas will vote for city/town offices and county council 3. They will also be included in the middle commissioner district, Torpy’s letter concludes.
As for school board elections in November, they will include: Tippecanoe Valley District 3, Franklin Township – Kosciusko County; Tippecanoe Valley District 4, Henry Township – Fulton County; Tippecanoe Valley District 5, New Castle Township - Fulton County; Triton Schools District 1, Tippecanoe Township - Marshall County; Triton Schools District 2, Etna Township - Kosciusko County; Triton Schools District 4, Town of Bourbon - Marshall County; Wa-Nee Schools, Harrison Township, Locke Township, Union Township - Elkhart County; Wawasee Community Schools District 1, Tippecanoe Township; Wawasee Community Schools District 2, Turkey Creek Township; Wawasee Community Schools District 3, Van Buren Township, Jefferson Precinct 3; Warsaw Community Schools District 1; Warsaw Community Schools District 2; Warsaw Community Schools District 7; Whitko Community Schools District 4, Jackson, Monroe, Washington Townships – Kosciusko County; and Whitko Community Schools District 5, Richland and Cleveland Townships - Whitley County.
For more information on the elections, visit the county website at kcgov.com and look under “elections.”
