Long voting lines in Murrysville could soon be a thing of the past

Additional voting precincts will be established in Murrysville for next year’s presidential election to deal with overcrowding frequently seen at particular polls.

Westmoreland County’s elections board has agreed to seek a judge’s approval for a redistricting plan that, if approved, would redraw voting districts to ease long wait times that have become the norm at Murrysville’s two largest precincts.

“Our goal is to decrease the amount of registered voters in those precincts to make sure each is more equal,” said Beth Lechman, director of the county election bureau.

Details of the proposed districts will be made public once the plan is formally presented to a county judge, possibly this week, Lechman said. That plan will include adding one or two additional precincts to seven existing ones in Murrysville. The plan’s final details are being hashed out, Lechman said.

Murrysville has 15,574 registered voters. Nearly half of those voters cast ballots in the Newlonsburg and Sardis precincts. Sardis lists 3,489 registered voters; Newlonsburg has 3,451, according to the election bureau.

The large volume of voters in those districts has caused waits of more than an hour to cast ballots during heavy turnout elections.

Murrysville’s other five districts — East Murrysville, Manordale, South Murrysville, East Manordale and West Murrysville — average fewer than 1,800 registered voters each, according to a lawsuit filed this year by a group of 85 residents.

In May, Common Pleas Judge Chris Scherer ordered the election bureau to devise a redistricting plan for Murrysville.

Murrysville council last year supported a move to redraw voting districts. Local Republican and Democratic party officials endorsed the effort.

Lechman said the proposed redistricting plan will reduce the number of registered voters in each new polling districts to between 1,200 and 1,700.

Murrysville residents will be able to review the proposed redistricting once it is presented to the judge and will have 30 days to register any challenges, Lechman said.