
Delaware County elections staff are launching a plan to consolidate over 100 precincts into 51, as announced at the Board of Elections meeting on Tuesday. The goal is to improve services and reduce costs by streamlining the current 428 precincts, inspired by neighboring counties with fewer voters per precinct, according to the Delaware County.
Delaware County has many "micro-precincts" with fewer than 400 voters, while neighboring counties have larger precincts serving 1,400 to 1,650 voters. To address this, Director of Elections James P. Allen created a plan to consolidate smaller precincts into larger ones. "This plan will save over $53,000 per election, more than $106,000 annually, while improving service to voters." Most voters will keep their original polling places, and those who must move will only travel 0.2 to 0.3 miles. No precinct will have more than 1,800 voters.
Delaware County expects to save $600,000 on equipment upgrades over the next ten years. Council Member Christine Reuther praised the Elections Department, saying, “Jim Allen and his team deserve great credit for taking a deep dive into the voter registration data and identifying opportunities to streamline and improve our election processes.” The plan to merge precincts is awaiting approval from the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas and the Pennsylvania Department of State. If approved, it could take effect before the May 20 primary or the November 4 Municipal Election. More details are available at DelcoPA.Gov/PrecinctPlan and DelcoPA.Gov/Vote.