Minneapolis voting precinct entirely on water

Published 9:54 am Wednesday, November 14, 2012

MINNEAPOLIS — Not one voter cast a ballot in one Minneapolis precinct on Election Day. That’s because the only living species in Ward 10, Precinct 3B, is of the aquatic variety.

A newly redistricted precinct map shows 3B is located entirely in the eastern half of Lake Calhoun — the biggest lake in Minneapolis. City Clerk Casey Carl says the watery precinct is the “unintentional result of a programming error” made in drawing new ward boundary lines.

Charter Commission chairman Barry Clegg said that the mapping software couldn’t draw a line around the edge of the lake without putting a census block in the wrong ward. Clegg said it was supposed to be cleaned up for the final map, but never was.

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