Precincting

While the cities, school districts, county council and state are redistricting, the Pierce County Auditor's Office is busy preparing for the tight (1-2 month) window we have to draw new precinct boundaries.

We are currently:

Working with our GIS (Geographical Information Systems) department and our voter registration vendor to ensure an automated solution for reassigning 410,000 voters to new precincts in a smooth and accurate process.
Comparing the street names in our voter registration database to the names each city and town has assigned to their streets.
Comparing the street names in our voter registration database to the street names in unincorporated Pierce County.
Ensuring that the addressing complies with the standards of the United States Postal Service.
Creating and maintaining GIS boundaries for all sewer, water, park, fire and road districts.

Pierce County regularly maintains over 114 election district boundaries and 382 precincts.

Precinct Boundaries

When district plans are final and approved the Pierce County Auditor's Office is responsible for drawing and adjusting precinct boundaries to match and align with the new district boundaries.

Precincts

May not exceed 900 active poll voters.
Since 83% of Pierce County voters Vote-By-Mail many of Pierce County precincts have 2,000 to over 3,000 voters each. When determining precinct size Vote-By-Mail voters are subtracted from the number of registered voters in the precinct. Possible legislation may change the precinct size requirement beginning in 2012.
Must be wholly within:
A single congressional district
A single legislative district
A single county council district
A single city or town
Must be contiguous and as compact as possible.
Shall follow census geography (blocks) and visible physical features to the greatest extent possible.

Notification

After new precincts are approved, affected voters will receive new voter identification cards listing their new precinct and district. The 2012 Primary and General will be conducted based upon the new precincts and districts.

Additional Information:

RCW 29A.16.040

RCW 29A.16.050