Burnet County voting precincts could be redrawn in 2025

Burnet County might have to redraw its voting precincts in 2025 as population shifts are pushing some out of the state-mandated range of registered voters. The Commissioners Court plans to seek expert advice before changes become necessary.

“My recommendation to the court would be that next year (2025), in March, we begin looking at the precincts because we are already pushing it,” said Burnet County First Assistant Attorney Colleen Davis during a presentation to commissioners on Tuesday, May 28.

Davis was referring to a handful of voting precincts in Burnet County that are growing faster than the others, which could have disproportionate impacts on elections and constituent representation.

Burnet County has 20 voting precincts, and according to Texas Election Code Chapter 42.006, the population of each must be within the range of 100 to 5,000 registered voters.

All of the county’s precincts are currently in compliance with the code, but some are approaching the limits. 

Precinct 19 has the highest population in the county with 4,150 registered class A voters and 417 class S voters, which do not count toward the total. Class A voters are active, while S signifies a registered voter who does not consistently live in the precinct or who has moved out of it. 

Precinct 19 includes southern Marble Falls, eastern Horseshoe Bay, Cottonwood Shores, most of Meadowlakes, and the area surrounding the U.S. 281-Texas 71 intersection.

In contrast, the lowest-population precinct is Precinct 14, which has 630 registered class A voters and 40 class S voters. It includes a wide swathe of north-central Burnet County surrounding the unincorporated community of Lake Victor.

These population differences can mean significant challenges for some elected officials, such as party precinct chairs, who must reside within their precinct. A precinct chair in District 14 would only have to win the majority of 677 voters in an election as opposed to a District 19 candidate, who would have to win the majority of 4,567 voters.

Further complicating matters is that voting precincts must be completely within the four precincts that elect county commissioners, justices of the peace, and constables. Redrawing voting precincts can change the area that each of those elected officials serves.

Redrawing these precincts is extremely complicated,” said First Assistant Attorney Davis. “You do want them to be fairly even, but you also don’t want the power of voters to be centralized in one area.”

The Burnet County Commissioners Court took no action on redrawing voting precincts during its Tuesday meeting but plans to bring in an outside expert in January before a March review of the precincts.

“(Changing voting precincts) is not something that can be done quickly or easily,” Davis said. “We are going to need some experts to guide us on how to do that.”

dakota@thepicayune.com