The council of a city where establishment of more than one precinct is necessary or deemed advisable shall, at the time required by law, divide the city into the number of election precincts as will best serve the convenience of the voters while promoting electoral efficiency. As used in this section, the term "the convenience of the voters" refers to, but is not necessarily limited to, the use of precinct boundaries which can be readily described to and identified by voters and for which there is ease of access by voters to their respective precinct polling places by reasonably direct routes of travel. As used in this section, the term "promoting electoral efficiency" means reducing the cost of staffing election precincts by requiring cities to avoid creating more precincts than is reasonably necessary to provide voters access to voting.
The precinct boundaries shall conform to section 49.3 and shall be described in an ordinance adopted by the council within the time required by section 49.7. Before final adoption of any change in election precinct boundaries pursuant to this section or section 49.6, the council shall permit the commissioner not less than seven and not more than ten days' time to offer written comments to the council on the proposed reprecincting. If the commissioner recommends changes in the proposed reprecincting which the commissioner concludes could better serve the convenience of the voters or could promote electoral efficiency, including lowering election costs, the council shall, if no changes to the reprecincting are made, include reasons in the ordinance for not adopting the proposed changes of the commissioner. A public hearing shall be held before final adoption of the ordinance. Notice of the date, time, and place of the hearing shall be given as provided in chapter 21.
[C97, § 1090; S13, § 1090; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, § 723; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, § 49.5]
93 Acts, ch 143, § 14; 94 Acts, ch 1179, §7, 8; 2001 Acts, ch 50, §1, 2
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