Selectmen Declare Their Support for Scrapping 'Sub-Precincts'

Selectmen voted unanimously Monday to speak out against the now-even-more-complex Andover electoral map.

"Given what this whole debacle has been like, I don’t think we need a first read on this," 

If you live in voting precinct 7 or 9, you may have experienced a bit of confusion last November.

With the 2011 redistricting by the state, Andover was not only split between congressional districts but also split at the precinct level, with the creation of "sub-precincts" within precincts 7 and 9, with a certain number of voters in those districts voting as part of other precincts.

This means precincts 7 and 9 are split between the two congressional districts, with both precincts having two separate ballots, leaving residents to have to figure out where they stand within their precinct.

It was seen by many in Andover as an odd, and somewhat frustrating, new layer in an already complex local voting map.

On Monday night, the Board of Selectmen approved -- and added their names to -- a letter by Town Clerk Larry Murphy supporting legislation to eliminate the town's sub-precincts.

Murphy has been a vocal critic of the new map, citing confusion and additional costs involved with implementing it.

Introduced by State Sen. Barry Finegold and State Rep. Jim Lyons, Senate Bill 326 seeks to amend Chapter 177 of the Acts of 2011 to repeal those Andover sub-precincts.

The letter written by Murphy and signed by the selectmen will be read as testimony during the hearing on the bill next Wednesday.