GREENFIELD — Councilors have voted to accept the reprecincting map for the city, following a request for the state to review it again in hopes of better aligning it with the House of Representatives district map that legislators approved in October, which left Greenfield split between two districts.

“We had to rework our map to meet that (legislative) split while at the same time keeping all elected officials who were required to be in their precinct, and elected officials who will be taking office on Jan. 1 in their precinct,” City Clerk Kathy Scott told councilors at a special meeting Tuesday night. “Those requirements are met.”

The map, which distinctly shows the legislative split, will now be sent to the state’s Local Election District Review Commission (LEDRC) to accept, Scott said.

Last month, Scott told councilors that when the Legislature voted to split Greenfield — despite opposition from residents and local officials — they used the 2010 precinct map, not the 2020 precinct map. The resulting precinct map left only Precinct 1, 2 and 5 intact, with the other six precincts split between the 1st Franklin and 2nd Franklin districts that are currently represented by state Rep. Natalie Blais, D-Sunderland, and Rep. Susannah Whipps, I-Athol, respectively.

Split precincts would have required the city to purchase additional election machines, among other election-related material, according to Scott.

Scott explained to councilors Tuesday night that the proposed precinct map accomplishes the two desires she had when she first reached out to the state last month: to avoid split precincts and ensure seated and elected councilors remain in their respective precincts.

“After the new year, we will be notifying anyone who has been put into a new precinct … but I’m not going to worry about that step until the LEDRC hopefully votes to accept this map,” she said.

Scott said she does not know the number of people who would be affected yet, as that would be information the state provides as one of the final steps in the process.

Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne

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