Bartholomew County consolidates smallest precincts

Bartholomew County will be merging its smallest precincts.

County Clerk Shari Lentz asked the County Commissioners this week to approve the merger of three precincts into larger ones, at the request of state officials. She said the state recommended that precincts of less than 600 registered voters be merged with larger neighbors.

Under the order, Precinct 3000 will merge with Precinct 3100, Precinct 5300 will merge with Precinct 5400 and Precinct 5500 will merge with precinct 5700.

The changes will go into effect on January 2nd and will affect next year’s elections. The changes must still be approved by the Indiana Election Division, Lentz said.

Although Bartholomew County voters are grouped into neighborhood precincts, the county has moved to a voting center model, which means there are no longer precinct-level voting locations.