What changed on election precinct issue?

Sometimes it’s not the decision itself — but how it was reached — which causes concern.

That was the case earlier this week when Jay County Commissioners, reversing course, decided there would be two election precincts each in Dunkirk and Redkey.

Commissioner Gary Theurer, who made the motion Monday to rescind an earlier vote to create one precinct in Dunkirk and Redkey, went out of his way to say he hadn’t been pressured by anyone to change his mind. We’ll take him at his word.

But something changed in the two weeks since commissioners Milo Miller Jr., Faron Parr and Theurer, acting on the recommendation of Jay County Clerk Jane Ann Runyon, voted to combine the precincts.

We have heard officials from the Democratic Party (Theurer is a Democrat) at the city, town and county level were less than pleased with the combining of the precincts.

But with the exception of Gerald Kirby, a Redkey resident, county councilman and loyal Democrat, we didn’t hear any objections made to the commissioners. And Kirby’s opinion was expressed Monday after the commissioners changed their previous vote.

So what changed?

Creating one precinct in each location, which came after a significant number of voters in Dunkirk and Redkey were named inactive in a review of voter registration lists, would save approximately $2,500 annually for costs of precinct workers, Runyon said.

In Runyon’s opinion, the negative implications would be minimal, as neither Redkey nor Dunkirk elect council representatives by district or precinct — a factor that prevented similar precinct consolidation in Portland.

One of the points Theurer made Monday is that with one precinct, a single person would be given the power to select a replacement for a vacant elected office — such as happened recently in Redkey when Clerk-Treasurer Brenda Adkins resigned unexpectedly. And that’s a point that makes sense.

Weighing competing viewpoints on issues make it tough to be an elected official. Decisions must be made daily that affect lives and step on toes.

During years of covering local and county government, we’ve often heard those in office say they wouldn’t vote to approve certain items in fear of setting precedent or opening the proverbial “can of worms.”

We wonder if the commissioners may be getting ready to go fishing. — M.S.[[In-content Ad]]