By A failed piece of state legislation that would have required counties to replace vote centers with precincts prompted Brown County Auditor Lynn Heupel to share with county commissioners what those precincts might have looked like.
She did that during the Thursday, March 18 county commission meeting at the courthouse annex.
The maps won’t be used, and commissioners took no action, but Heupel did the work just in case it was needed.
Each option divides Aberdeen into multiple precincts, spreading the city’s population of 28,483 in different ways.
City voting precinct option one.
Currently, there are 11 vote centers in Brown County. Voters can cast ballots at any of them. That would change with precincts as voters would have to use only their home precinct. The rural voting locations in the county would not change.
Were the county to adopt precincts, it would increase the number of election workers needed, Heupel said.
Senate Bill 103 would have prohibited the use of vote centers in the state. It failed 22-13 in the Senate.
Commission Chairman Duane Sutton said that of the four options, he preferred the third, which had precinct boundaries similar to those used by the Aberdeen City Council.
City voting precinct option two.
Commissioners Drew Dennert and Mike Gage preferred the fourth option, which divides the city into six precincts.
Brown County Republican Party Chairman Rich Higlemann commented on the precinct options during the meeting. He said any of the four would reduce the number of precinct representatives in the city — from 11 to six or four, though those people would still cast the same number of ballots as the 11.
Strictly speaking, there are 11 voting precincts within Aberdeen and 22 in Brown County, but they are mostly used by political parties that elect committeemen and committeewomen who represent their precincts at state party conventions.
City voting precinct option three.
State Sen. Carl Perry, R-Aberdeen, was also at the meeting and said the more precincts, the better. That’s why he likes the current setup.
State Rep. Al Novstrup, R-Aberdeen, also spoke and said the current system works fine and there’s no reason to change.
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There is no plan for the county to convert from vote centers. Sutton reiterated the maps were merely for informational purposes.
City voting precinct option four.
Junior fair board members approved
Commissioners also approved 13 members to the junior fair board.
Brown County Fair Manager Rachel Kippley said about half of them return from last year.
The junior fair board provides youth ages 14 to 20 the chance to learn about the local fair and the fair industry. Members volunteer their time working on various fair-related projects.
This year’s junior fair board members include:
- Iszabell Helm
- Addison Hoeft
- Kylee Hoffman
- Jax Holmes
- Noah Kippley
- Titus Kippley
- Amara Klipfel
- Briella Klipfel
- Paisley Mitchell
- Payton Mitchell
- Gentry Pigors
- Taryn Thompson
- Sascha Usselman
Rachel Kippely also informally asked the commission whether it would be open to hiring a campground host for the fairgrounds during spring and summer. The person would be similar to campground hosts at state parks, she said.
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Having someone on site to assist campers would be beneficial, especially with the uptick in interest from transient workers who wish to stay on the campgrounds while working on area projects like the Applied Digital data center project in Ellendale, N.D., Kippley said.
Commissioners were supportive of the idea, but asked Kippley to do more research and return to the board with a formal request.
In other action, commissioners approved matters of routine business and met in executive session to discuss personnel, contracts and legal matters.