The Pulaski County Board of Elections is using available time during this election-free year in Kentucky to eliminate as many split precincts as possible.
County Clerk Ralph Troxtell, chair of the election board, said he is asking governing bodies of each of the five municipalities in Pulaski County to approve maps showing exact boundaries. The board of elections will use these approved maps to, whenever possible, get city voters within city precincts.
A split precinct results when boundaries of cities, school districts and divisions do not follow precinct lines. The dilemma is the result of cities taking in new territories and precinct lines not changing. It is compounded by borders of five legislative districts set by state law that must adhere to precinct boundaries.
Somerset, for example, has 11 full precincts and five partial precincts within the corporate limits. Precincts totally within the city limits are Somerset No. 1, No. 2, No. 3A, No. 3B, No. 4A, No. 4B, No. 5A, No. 5B, No. 5C, No. 5D and No. 5E. Split precincts, part within the city and part outside, are Caney Fork No. 13, Rush Branch No. 14, Gilliland No. 40, Vaught No. 43 and Somerset No. 6. Most of Somerset No. 6 is within the corporate limits of Somerset but the city of Ferguson nudges into its boundary.
Split precincts create confusing and sometimes testy situations for both voters and precinct officers who must determine eligibility of voters in city or school board elections by their addresses. And in some cases, voters have to go to out-of-way places to cast their ballots.
Until this past year, Somerset voters who live in Gilliland No. 40 had to vote at the VFW club at Barnesburg, more than five miles east of Somerset off Ky. 80. Troxtell brought the Gilliland voting place closer for city voters by moving it to Eagle Heights Church off Ky. 914.
City voters in Village Green subdivision off Rush Branch Road still vote at Rush Branch No. 14 in Haynes Knob Fire Station, more than a shift of gears east of the corporate limits on Ky. 769.
In the Caney Fork precinct, residents of Somerset vote at King of Kings Radio Station, off Ky. 39 at 93 Rainbow Terrace Drive. Somerset residents in Vaught precinct vote at Hal Rogers Fire Training Center off Ky. 1247 in Saddlebrook subdivision.
Troxtell has been calling the split-precinct situation a “real mess” since he took office in January 2007. He has vowed to get city voters within the city limits wherever possible.
Science Hill City No. 22 is larger that the corporate limits of Science Hill. A few residents, particularly on Ky. 1676, live in No. 22 but outside the city limits. The board of elections will try to realign No. 22 to correspond with the city’s boundaries.
Troxtell said there is not much the board of elections can do to realign Eubank No. 25. because the northernmost Pulaski County city extends into southern Lincoln County. Residents of Eubank’s Tower-Vue subdivision (about 10 houses) vote at Waynesburg No. 2 precinct in Lincoln County.
Burnside has annexed all the way to Lee’s Ford Resort Marina in the Nancy community and extends into five precincts. The situation is also complicated by state-established legislative district lines.
Ferguson No. 8 may be realigned to match the boundaries of the fifth-class city at the southwest side of Somerset. Currently, a part of Ferguson’s corporate limits extends into Somerset No. 6 precinct.
Boundaries of the Somerset and Science Hill independent school districts are not the same as their home-base cities. Rick Barker, a member of the board of elections working closely with Troxtell on the precinct realigning project, said division boundaries in the Pulaski County School District were realigned last year.
Barker is generating city maps with a computer and in some cases utilizing GPS (Global Positioning System) to establish city boundaries.
“All we had before were boundaries drawn with a Magic Marker on a highway road map,” said Barker. “The width of the Magic Marker mark on a road map covers a wide territory,” he laughed.
Troxtell said the board of elections is not currently splitting large rural precincts. He believes the switch to paper ballots and optical scanners in 2010 will speed the voting process at the bigger precincts.
The county clerk said he is still looking for a new voting place at Mt. Zion No. 47. The current voting house is located on Ky. 1676 in the parking lot of an old store building. The voting house does not comply with the Help America Voting Act (for physically challenged),” he explained.
“It has got paved parking ... everything but space inside the voting house,” Troxtell. “Put four precinct officers and a table in (the voting house) and there isn’t room for anything else.”
Troxtell said the matter must be resolved prior to local elections in 2010. “We’ve got to make something happen at Mt. Zion ... we’ve got to make a move.”
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Pulaski County is not at war. The booming you may hear at dusk is mock cannon fire to scare away birds.
Stuart Spillman, environmental director for the Lake Cumberland Health Department, said at least three cannons are on loan from the department to residents who want to scare away swarms of starlings and blackbirds settling in to roost.
He said a cannon is being used by a resident on Laura Lane off Ky. 39; another is in the Oak Hill Road area and a third is on Ashurst Street in the eastern part of Somerset.
Spillman said a timer on each cannon allows it to “fire” at whatever frequency is desired. The cannons must be used as the birds circle before going to roost. “After they settle in, nothing will chase them out,” Spillman said.
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The water controversy that Pulaski County has been boiling over — so to speak — for the last week is finally over.
At 10 minutes after noon Wednesday, the “boil water” advisory for the Western Pulaski Water District was lifted — almost a full week after the problems began around 1 p.m. last Thursday.
Prior to that, the Somerset Water Service — along with the other water providers in its system, including Science Hill Water, Southeastern Water, and Eubank Water — lifted their advisories, with Somerset on Saturday afternoon and the last, Southeastern, by Monday morning. Western Pulaski was the last in the system to complete sample testing for potential contaminants, due to not being able to access its Pikeville-based testing lab until Monday.
Somerset Mayor Eddie Girdler thanked the public for its patience and understanding during the duration of the boil water advisory — put in place to keep citizens from drinking water that could have been contaminated after an accident last Thursday at the water plant site — and also thanked all the city employees for their hard work during this time.
“The boil water advisory went about as well as would be expected,” said Girdler.
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