The Meridian City Council on Tuesday approved new district lines for each of the city’s five wards following a public hearing.

The city, along with other cities, counties and states throughout the nation, was required to redraw its ward boundaries to account for changes in population in the 2020 census. Federal law mandates redistricting after each census if needed.

Meridian has been working with East Central Planning and Development District to make the necessary changes to the wards to meet legal requirements and incorporate input from county election officials as well.

Sen. Jeff Tate, who serves as chairman of the Senate Elections Committee and formerly chaired the Lauderdale County Elections Commission, said his experience with elections pointed to a cause for concern within the city’s plan.

Trinity Presbyterian Church has been a longtime polling place for Ward 1 residents, Tate said, but the redistricting plan puts the church in Ward 5.

“With the redistricting, the ward below it had to grow north, taking in that church,” he said. “My suggestion to you all is that you actually remain that place for a voting place for both the ward that it was redistricted into along with Ward 1 where it was before.”

Tate said the goal of keeping the polling location the same is to eliminate confusion. If voters have voted in the same place for a decade and suddenly aren’t able to vote in that place, they are likely to get upset, he said.

“We have enough talk about rigged elections and things like that, whether that be in real life or a perception,” he said. “We don’t need to add to that.”

ECPDD Community Development Director Jenifer Buford said she agreed with Tate that eliminating confusion for voters was a priority, but creating a split precinct to avoid change was the right solution.

Redistricting, Buford said, is change, and it will impact city voters, county voters and more. The goal, she said, is to balance the change where it is not too much for the voters to handle.

“We realize that people do not like change, and if we make too many changes they’re not going to vote,” she said.

After hearing from both Tate and Buford, the council voted to adopt the redistricting plan with the split precinct at Trinity Presbyterian as Tate suggested. The new ward boundaries and voting precincts will be put to the test during the next city elections in 2025.