You may have noticed that the Town’s online Town Council Ward Map has reverted to the Council wards and voting districts originally approved in 2012, although for a few months the Ward Lookup tool had been displaying the Council wards adopted in 2023 following the results of the 2020 census. The implementation of the new Council wards has been an ongoing process with Allegheny County’s Elections Division and the Town is making best efforts to provide current information on this issue to our residents as we become aware of it.
On January 9, 2023, the Town officially adopted new boundaries for Town Council’s wards based on population data from the 2020 census. This process is called “reapportionment” and is legally required by the State of Pennsylvania for all municipalities that are locally represented by ward members. Following changes to Council ward boundaries, the Town must work with the County to update voting district boundaries, which determine the location of polling places, to align with new ward boundary changes. Each ward contains 3 voting districts that are administered by the County Elections Division. Both Town Council ward and voting district boundaries must be based on census blocks, which are map shapes created by the U.S. Census Bureau that are updated each decade.
Throughout 2023 and 2024 the Town was in communication with County Elections Division officials to determine what information was required for the County to submit a petition to the State Bureau of Elections, which has final approval over voting district changes. At the County’s request, the Town prepared maps and exhibits that included both the updated Town Council wards and the minimum changes necessary to align the voting district boundaries to the ward boundaries. The petition was first heard and approved at the Court of Common Pleas in August 2024, and on September 18, 2024, the County notified the Town that the new ward map and voting districts would be implemented for the 2025 local election.
In January 2025, the Town reached out to the County to confirm all changes had been finalized in preparation for the upcoming primaries. The County then notified the Town that later in September 2024, when the County petitioned the State Bureau of Elections to complete the updates, the State had identified minor concerns with voting district boundaries in Council wards that had not been changed in the 2023 map. The census block shapes at these internal voting district boundaries had experienced small realignments after 2020 that had not been considered in the wards that did not require population changes during reapportionment. Due to this issue, the State petition was not approved and the implementation of the Town’s new Council wards is still pending before the County Elections Division.
The Town will continue to work with the County throughout 2025 to make the necessary minor updates to voting district boundaries that will satisfy the State’s comments. In the meantime, the Town understands from the County that changes to both ward and district boundaries will not be implemented on ballots for the 2025 municipal election. The Town Ward Lookup Map is currently displaying the 2012 Council ward boundaries to avoid contributing to any confusion in potential polling places in the 2025 election. The Town reminds residents to always use the PA Voter Services website to check your polling place immediately before election dates when making plans to vote.