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Officials ask if new state representative is living in right district

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By VICKI URBANIK

Conflicting maps have prompted questions over whether State Representative Ed Soliday, R-3rd, lives in the 4th House District that he represents.

The questions first surfaced last week, when Porter County Clerk Dale Brewer, a member of the Porter County Election Board, said she was asked to look into the matter. Brewer said she is confident that Soliday’s residence is in the 4th District, but she nevertheless did ask the Election Division of the Indiana Secretary of State’s office to check its mapping software and determine if there are mistakes in the maps.

“It wouldn’t be the first time the mapping would be wrong,” she said.

Porter County Democrat Party Chair Leon West said the matter came to his attention last week by an individual, whom he did not identify, who reviewed the state legislative maps and found that Soliday’s residence is in the 10th District, which is represented by Rep. Duane Cheney.

Soliday, meanwhile, said he noticed the discrepancy in the district maps when he first ran for the seat last year, and that he asked state Republican Party officials to determine if his residency is in the 4th District. “The state said you’re in,” he said.

Soliday said his neighborhood was annexed into the city of Valparaiso in 2000, and that the legal description of the annexation order and of the precinct shows that his community is in Precinct 29.

Last November, Soliday was elected over Democrat Sylvia Graham to the 4th District seat, which for more than 20 years was held by Ralph Ayres, R-Chesterton. Ayres opted not to seek re-election.

West said he learned about the discrepancy, he first referred the matterto the state Democrat Party and then to the Secretary of State’s Election Division. “They’re looking at it right now,” he said.

The map that’s online at in.gov/legislative indicates that Soliday’s residency, on Throughwoods Drive in Valparaiso, is in the 10th House District. But one problem with this map is that Throughwoods Drive is not actually depicted.

Brewer said she reviewed Soliday’s original voter registration card, and his voter registration information under the previous system and the current one, and determined that he lives in Center Precinct 29. According to state statute, Precinct 29 is in the 4th House District.

Brewer also said she has a map that shows that all of precinct 29 is in the Valparaiso city limits and that it was annexed in 2000. Further, she checked Soliday’s property taxes and found that his taxes are in the city limits.

However, the county map that’s online on the Voter Registration page shows that while Soliday’s neighborhood is in the city limits, it is outside of precinct 29. The map shows that Throughwoods Drive is in precinct 18. According to state statute, Center Precinct 18 is in the 10th house district.

Could it be possible that the county placed Soliday in the wrong precinct on his voter registration card, or are the county’s precinct map and the state’s legislative map incorrect?

“Anything could be wrong, but it’s more likely the map is wrong,” Brewer said.

West said he isn’t sure what to believe. “They’re going to have to unravel that downstate,” he said.

Soliday said he was elected to do a job, and that he isn’t going to let the dispute stand in the way of his carrying out his legislative duties. But he also said that if the dispute ends up in an attempt to unseat him, the voters would be disenfranchised.

“The worse that could happen is that the people of the 4th District would not be represented,” he said.

 

Posted 1/30/2007

 

 

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