A Montgomery County judge ruled in favor of CBSD Fair Votes, a grassroots organization that petitioned for a new voting map for the Central Bucks School District. The decision means the election maps for the 2025 election in Central Bucks will contain three regions, rather than the nine it currently has. In the ruling, Judge Cheryl Austin called Fair Votes’ plan “superior in its maintenance of political subdivision integrity because it splits fewer municipalities than the New Board Plan.” Austin noted that fewer regions allow residents to vote for three of the nine school board members, rather than one. The school district was required to create a new map, as population changes defined in the 2020 census left some voting regions larger or smaller than others. The school district’s first redrawn map would have assigned thousands of voters to voting regions where they would not have voted for a school director until 2025. All 18 Bucks County judges recused themselves from the case, causing the need for a Montgomery County judge to be assigned. It is unknown if the school district plans to appeal the judge’s decision.
Source: Bucks County Herald; 11/6/2023