New Voter Cards Sent to Those Affected by State Redistricting

Nearly 3,000 local voters recently received new voter cards due to the recent state redistricting plan, which resulted in DeKalb County having two state house members.
Dennis Stanley, DeKalb County Administrator of Elections, said new cards were mailed to those whose State Representative District changed from District 40 to District 46. Those whose district remained the same were
not issued new voter cards.
“This was a very tedious process, especially inside the Smithville city limits and for roads that were split, but we feel like the process is basically finished,” Stanley said. “Voters are encouraged to check their new cards carefully and if they feel a correction needs to be made, we have time before the August Election early voting period, which begins in
mid-July.”
This is the second time in the past eight months some voters have received a new card. Last fall voters impacted by the county’s redistricting plan received new cards. “The reason we had to do this twice is the fact the legislature did not pass the state redistricting plan until late January and we had county races on the March ballot,” Stanley continued. “We had to know which county district a candidate and a voter were located before we could count petition signatures and have an official local ballot.”
Just like the first time around, many of the voter cards came back to the election office as “undeliverable as addressed.”
“We’ve had well over 200 cards come back to us because the voter moved or the mailing address changed and he/she did not inform us of the new address,” Stanley said. “I can’t emphasize enough how important it is for voters to keep the election office up to date on address changes. Certainly it benefits our office and saves wasted postage, but it also
makes the voting experience go a lot smoother for the voter when he or she shows up at the polling place if the correct address is on file.”
Meanwhile, the next election will be the Smithville Municipal Election in which voters will choose a mayor and two aldermen, as well as decide if they want to allow “the legal sale of alcoholic beverages for consumption
on the premises” inside the corporate limits.
The last day to register to vote for that election is May 21 and the last day to request an absentee ballot is June 12. Early voting for the Smithville Election will be held from May 30 through June 14. The hours will be announced later.