The reapportionment of magisterial districts will have minimal affect on Clinton County, according to the Reapportionment Committee Plan presented to the Clinton County Fiscal Court last Thursday.
Magisterial districts, along with state and federal districts, are required by the Constitution to be realigned each 10 years following the U.S. Census. The requirement is to get each district within five percent population-wise of each other.
The reapportionment, or redrawing of districts, will affect only two of the six magisterial districts in the county, those being in Districts 2 and 3, with only about 100 people being involved, and only between 30 and 50 actual voters having to change districts.
The local reapportionment committee members included Jeremy Ferguson (who was appointed by fellow members as head of the committee), an employee with the PVA office, local realtor Mark Neal, and former Clinton County Clerk Jim Elmore. County Clerk Nathan Collins was secretary of the committee and a non-voting member.
The aforementioned group worked with officials from the Lake Cumberaland Area Development District, and according to Whitney Denney, GIS Project Specialist with the ADD, approved the reapportionment proposal on June 28. The committee  members had considered three total proposals.
In a meeting held by the Committee on July 18, they acknowledged the map and written descriptions verifying the new district boundary changes to be presented to the fiscal court.
In a statement to the court from the committee, they wrote:
“The Reapportionment Committee is presenting to you the proposed reapportionment for Clinton County. With the guidance of LCADD, we have reviewed the census block data from the 2020 Census. Per KRS 67.045, the population of each district must be “as nearly equal as reasonably possible.” According to the Attorney General, this is interpreted as being within 5% of a difference in population.
After reviewing the data, we have determined that the most effective way to meet the requirements of “nearly equal as reasonably possible” would be to move the census block consisting of the area north of Highway 90, east of Highway 558, and south of Williams Creek. Changing this census block from District 3 to District 2 would satisfy KRS 67.045 with as minimal change to boundary lines as possible.”
The current make-up of population per district, according to the 2020 Census, showed 1,709 in District 3 and 1,450 in District 2, a difference of 259 residents.
The new boundary per district would show 1,548 in District 2 and 1,611 in District 3, a difference of only 63 voters.
The Reapportionment Plan was reviewed by Ferguson at last week’s fiscal court meeting. He briefly explained the process of preparing the plan, why it is required and the importance of people actually filling out their Census forms each 10 year cycle.
He explained the Constitution mandates redistricting each 10 years, primarily for political purposes to make districts even in proportion of representation at the local, state and federal levels.
The committee also commended and thanked the Lake Cumberland ADD for their help in the process.
Ferguson explained that the plan the committee approved caused the least amount of change in voters having to register in another district and by taking some voters out of District 3 and placing them in District 2, very few residents or voters would be affected..
He estimated only around 100 residents total were included counting children and non-registered voters, and no more than 30 to 50 actual voters would be affected by the change.
“We looked at different scenarios,” said Ferguson, but added this one would have the least effect on the fewest voters.
The magisterial district change will not have any effect on this coming year’s general election.
Clinton County Clerk Nathan Collins said his office would be responsible for notifying voters who will be effected by the change in districts, but “that will be a year or two down the road.”
As with most delays going on in the county, the COVID-19 pandemic was blamed for the 2020 Census figures being reported years later than usual after the actual Census was taken.
It was also noted the change may have some affect on upcoming school board districts, even though magisterial and school boards are not aligned in the exact same areas.
A written description and map was also presented to each court member.
Also during the discussion, both reapportionment committee members and fiscal court members agreed that the actual Census numbers revealed for Clinton County were far “too low” in population.
Elmore and Ferguson agreed they felt the actual number of residents in the county was closer to between 12,000 and 14,000, as opposed to the 9,253 residents actually counted.
The only reasoning for the low numbers is apparently many residents did not take the time to fill out and return their Census forms, which officials say has an adverse effect on both individuals and their communities.
Judge/Executive Ricky Craig said a lot of people don’t fill out their Census forms because they feel they don’t want the federal government to know what they’re doing.
Ferguson agreed, but noted that people should know the importance of the Census count, not only for making political districts equal, but for economic purposes.
He said it affects funding communities receive, and in some cases, states have lost Congressional seats due to lower population areas–as well as the size of a state determining the number of electoral votes a state has in a presidential election.
Judge Craig agreed, saying the county may have already lost funding, such as road money, due to the low number in population compared to other areas.
Ferguson said that although the next U.S. Census is years away, he hopes to begin getting the word out to people about how important it is for themselves and their communities to be counted, as those numbers are figured into amounts allotted from state and federal sources.
(A separate article on what the Census does and its importance to citizens can be found elsewhere in this week’s NEWS.)
After the discussion concluded, Magistrate Jason Pitman moved to approve first reading of the Reapportionment Plan, which passed by unanimous vote. Second and final reading is scheduled for the court’s August meeting.

New Magisterial Districts