MOUNT VERNON — Several Knox County election precincts will undergo consolidation or reorganization in 2026.
The changes became effective Jan. 5 and affect Fredericktown; Clinton, Howard, and Pleasant townships; and Mount Vernon precincts 3 and 4.
Potential changes are pending approval from the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office in Morris Township.
“The goal here was to fix some growing caps or approaches to 1,400 for several precincts … while also touching up precincts that maybe needed a little fine tuning to get in compliance,” Board of Elections Deputy Director Jack Goodman said.
“Our hope was if we do these changes, we wouldn’t have to do this for about a decade.”
Under state law, precincts can have no more than 1,400 voters.
“These consolidations, at least Fredericktown and Clinton, save on poll workers, and they save on equipment, especially if we’re looking for our next purchase of equipment in the next five years,” Goodman said. “We will reduce our overall purchase amount because we have fewer precincts.”
Village of Fredericktown
Fredericktown currently has three precincts: A (320 voters), B (822), and C (669).
The board voted to combine Precinct C with Precinct A, bringing the voter total to 989, slightly higher than Precinct B’s.
“Neither of those numbers are high enough that we have to worry about reaching the 1,400 cap,” Peter Haywood, Kenyon College intern and senior political science major, told the BOE at its December meeting.
“Combining them creates this nice, clean line along Sandusky Street and Mount Vernon Avenue, right through the middle of town.”
Clinton Township precincts
Clinton Township has three precincts: A (338 voters), B (822), and Clinton C (778).
“We can pretty easily fit all of the population into two precincts without worrying about going above the 1,400,” Haywood said.
The board voted to combine A and B into one precinct, which would become a southern Precinct B. The detached northeast section of Clinton C around Sychar Road will also become part of the new Precinct B.
Clinton C becomes Clinton A. Voters in the Ariel-Foundation Park area previously in Clinton B will move into the new A.
The new Clinton A would have 1,098 voters; Clinton B would have 842.
“Both of those numbers allow for growth within those precincts. They’re well below that 1,400,” Haywood said.
Goodman noted that the Liberty Crossing development was annexed into Mount Vernon’s 1st Ward, which is nowhere near the voter cap.
Mount Vernon 3
Some of the most extensive revisions involve Mount Vernon’s third precinct because of the significant population growth in the 3rd Ward.
The board removed the area north of Beech Street from Precinct 3A and added it to Precinct C.
North of Marita Drive to Coshocton Avenue moves from C to A. South of Marita Drive and west of Teryl Drive moves to 3B.
Haywood said that overall, 3C loses a significant amount of voters. The new precincts have 1,138 voters in 3A, 1,035 in 3B, and 929 in 3C.
“It’s an uneven trade-off, but that was the point. It keeps all this sort of new development out here [in 3C],” Haywood said.
“This is a little uneven, but that’s on purpose since 3C has the largest growth. We’re giving it the most room to grow by keeping its number lower than the other two, but not by that much.”
The changes make Precinct 3A an older neighborhood, which should not need to be changed for the foreseeable future since it is already developed.
Additionally, 3B and 3C have room to absorb new voters if growth continues.
Board chair Adam Gilson noted that Mount Vernon City Council has changed ward boundaries in the past.
“So I would not be surprised to see boundaries shift to the east to balance the population. We just can’t know that,” he said.
“We could run up against that in less than a decade, but even then, we’re probably six or seven years away. If there is a candidate for adding another precinct, it would be in the 3rd Ward.”
Mount Vernon 4
Precincts 4B and 4C will split along Wooster Road for the length of their border. This simplifies the line and rebalances the population.
“In the new precincts, 4B will have 954 and 4C will have 873, so we’re moving about 150 voters,” Haywood said.
“My one concern about this is that this does move a chunk of voters to a different voting location. I don’t know if it accomplishes enough for us to justify that,” Gilson said.
“I’m always concerned about risking voter confusion, and I want there to be a good reason for it.”
Voters between Wooster Road and East Pleasant Street would now vote at Habitat for Humanity on West Chestnut. Goodman noted that is geographically closer to that voting bloc.
Morris Township
Precinct lines follow census blocks.
Census blocks are sections of the population used to build the census. They are typically defined by roads and, sometimes, by geographic features.
The current precinct lines split school districts (Fredericktown and Mount Vernon), the Fredericktown Recreation District, and Fredericktown Joint Fire and Morris Township Fire districts.
The BOE asked the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office to split a census block and redraw precinct lines to align with school district boundaries.
“This would allow the Board of Elections to reduce the number of ballot types that it has to produce, sort of a good efficiency measure,” Haywood explained.
“Considering this is moving only a handful of properties, the difference of the population shift is insignificant. It’s still basically splitting the township in half.”
The state has not yet formally approved the split of the census block.
However, the elections board approved the proposed changes pending approval from the state.
Howard Township
Two precincts in Howard Township are nearing the 1,400 voter cap. Howard C has 1,361; Howard D has 1,303.
Precincts A, B, and E ranged from 546 to 792.
The goal was to get as many precincts as possible to a voter count of 900 to 1,100 without creating new splits and maintaining or shortening the drive time to polling locations.
“With the census blocks though, we couldn’t just sort of slice off a few little pieces,” Goodman said.
Goodman said that, rather than seeking another waiver from the state, elections staff divided the rapidly growing populations of C and D among A, B, C, D, and E.
Howard B takes on the southern part of Howard C, which means about 150 people will now vote in Howard.
“Some of these people should have always been voting in Howard because they could see the township house from their house but not be able to vote there, and we got complaints about that,” Goodman said.
“C went from being the largest precinct to one of the smaller precincts, but if the growth continues within those areas, that will protect it from going over any caps.”
Precinct A went from being the smallest to the largest, primarily because it had to follow census blocks.
Goodman said there are still many unknowns with the number of undeveloped lots remaining in Apple Valley.
Polling locations will remain in the Floral Valley Community Center, Apple Valley clubhouse, and Howard Township House.
Pleasant Township
The current precinct lines in Pleasant Township do not conform to census blocks.
Board members approved moving the southwestern boundary of Precinct A to Murray Road. It will extend west to Goodall and Martinsburg roads.
Voting locations will not change.
Central Committee members
The changes will affect the number and seats of Central Committee members for the county Republican and Democratic parties.
“We intentionally did not look at where or how that would it create a vacancy or those things. We did not look at any of that until after this was all kind of fleshed out and agreed upon on the staff side,” BOE Director James Blazer said.
“The idea was to not allow that to influence anything that we’re doing.”
Republican and Democratic party chairs Fred Dailey and Kathy Tate, respectively, were present when the elections board made the precinct changes.
Board members voted to move Mount Vernon 2A’s polling location to Habitat for Humanity on West Chestnut Street.
They also briefly discussed potentially moving the polling location for Clinton Township precincts and will continue the discussion at their January meeting.
The Board of Elections will notify voters affected by the changes. The changes are also listed on the BOE’s website.
