SAUGUS — Legislative redistricting in the town will result in state Rep. Jessica Giannino of Revere losing two quadrants of Precinct 3 — and state Rep. Donald Wong (R-Saugus) picking them up.
Town Clerk Ellen Schena went before the Board of Selectmen Tuesday to explain the setup. She said that the state mandated the change, among several changes necessitated by U.S. census-driven redistricting, so that there is not a huge population disparity between one precinct versus another.
With this shift, Schena feels the town has accomplished that.
“It’s never going to be just perfect,” she said. “You can’t do that. But on balance they are equal.”
Only 200 people will be moved from Precinct 3 and into Precinct 8, which will absorb the two quadrants. Schena’s proposal was approved unanimously at Tuesday’s meeting and will be forwarded to the state.
Schena said the state Local Election District Review Commission (LEDRC) came back to the town, after it had submitted its final maps to the commission on Oct. 31, saying that because of an imbalance, the two quadrants from the third precinct would have to be broken off — either forming a sub-precinct or absorbing them into another precinct.
Schena chose the latter.
“The state only deals with the numbers,” Schena said. “It’s up to us to deal with the logistics afterward.”
Thus, the two quadrants from the third precinct will be taken from the 16th Suffolk District, which Giannino represents, and moved to the 9th Essex District represented in the Massachusetts House of Representatives by Wong.
Earlier in the fall, Schena revealed that not only was part of Precinct 3 being shifted to Precinct 6, but she was personally affected. She’d lived in Precinct 3 for 22 years.
The redistricting comes as a result of last year’s national census. It is part of a nationwide effort that reconfigured the state’s congressional districts as well as its local legislative district.
“This is just for the House of Representatives,” Schena said about the Saugus plan. “Not the state Senate.”
