When redistricting for voting purposes, it can be difficult to redraw defining lines in a way that makes it easy for voters to understand. An equally daunting challenge is evenly dividing the voting population among the community’s voting districts.

“What district am I in?” and “Where should I vote?” are among the most common questions being asked.

But Newtown Registrars LeReine Frampton and Erica Canfield have strived to make those district dividing lines as easy to understand as possible — with an eye on also reducing the distance some voters must drive to their respective polling places.

Additionally, and in conjunction with Newtown IT Department GIS specialist Christina Woehrle, the registrars have produced an easy to use interactive map on the town website that allows voters to look up their address and find their Legislative Council district, as well as their state and federal representative district.

“We wanted to try to make people more self-sufficient to vote so that we’d get fewer phone calls,” said Frampton.

Frampton credited Woehrle for all her hard work on the map.

“It will really help,” said Frampton. “It will make things easier on voters.”

The online map can be accessed through the “Registrar of Voters” department by visiting www.newtown-ct.gov/registrar-voters — then clicking “Map of Voting Districts” in the left-hand blue sidebar.

Voters can then enter their address and their new district and polling place will pop up. The direct link is: https://newtown.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=af999f65077244a9bfc3e4351bef030e.

The redistricting resulted from data collected during the 2020 census.

“All people are entitled to equal representation,” wrote Frampton, the Democratic registrar, in a letter concerning the redistricting to the Legislative Council. “This means the federal, state, and local representation is adjusted.”

With the town having roughly 19,500 registered voters, the goal was to divide the town into three districts of as close to 6,500 people as possible. The final numbers are 6,427 in District 1, 6,541 in District 2, and 6,496 in District 3.

While the federal representation did not change, Newtown is no longer part of the state 112th district or the 2nd district, but is part of the 107th on the Brookfield border, and still part of the 106th.

The Newtown Registrar of Voters office is responsible for deciding the local district lines. Frampton wrote that not only must each district be equally represented, but that currently elected officials need to still be in their own districts.

“This was difficult since [the council members] are all clustered together,” Frampton told the council at its February 2 meeting.

Polling places have changed. While District 1 is still at Newtown Middle School, District 2 now votes at Newtown High School and all of District 3 votes at Reed Intermediate School. Formerly, District 3 was divided into two halves, because District 3-2 was in the 112th state district and had a different ballot, while the rest of the district was in the 106th.

“Our office is dedicated to making voting accessible,” Frampton stated. “We work very hard to limit wait times when voting (most of the day you can be in and out within 10 to 15 minutes).”

The following changes were made to council district lines:

District 1 — Add the even side of Schoolhouse Hill — the odd side of the street was already in District 1, so now both sides of the street are in the same district.

District 2 — Remove Schoolhouse Hill even side; remove Berkshire Road even side, house numbers 2 through 86; Remove Fir Tree and Johnny Appleseed to District 3; remove Little Brook even 18 through the end of the street and odd 13 through the end of the street; remove Hemlock Road, remove Button Shop.

“This little section is intermingled with District 3 so this will help even out the districts and be less confusing,” stated Frampton. “Both of these groups were split that way for the 112th district by the state legislatures. Since we no longer are a part of the 112th, we can simplify the lines.”

Also, removing South Main, odd 1 through 273.

“This starts at the light by the old police station (corner of Route 25 and 302) and goes toward Monroe,” stated Frampton. “The rest of the odd side and all of the even side was already in District 3. This will make it so that if you live on South Main Street, you are in District 3.”

District 3 — Add Berkshire Road evens 2-86, Fir Tree Land, and Johnny Appleseed; add Little Brook even 18 through end and odd 13 through end, Hemlock Road and Buttonshop; add South Main Street odd 1 through 273.

“A lot of hours went into this,” said Frampton. “Adding and subtracting we can do, but figuring out which street was time consuming.”

Frampton said that the map is now completely updated and is accurate with all registered voters. She also said that for those who may not be able to see the map online, the Registrar’s Office will be sending out “large, brightly colored” postcards to households to let voters know what their districts are and where they need to go to vote.

The Legislative Council approved the redistricting plan unanimously.

Reporter Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.