[12/9/04]Nearly 500 city voters will be assigned different polling places for 2005 municipal elections following approval earlier this year of new ward lines.

The Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen will accept public comment at 10 a.m. Friday at City Hall Annex about proposed changes in voting precincts. City Attorney Nancy Thomas said the new polling places will also have to be approved by the U.S. Justice Department before the primary election on May 3.

The general election is June 7.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Justice Department approved revised ward lines that reassigned about 1,400 city residents from the South Ward to the North Ward. Redistricting was required because of population shifts between the 1990 and 2000 Census and the adjustment balances voter numbers in the two wards.

Paul Rogers, strategic planner for the city, said most had been voting at the Vicksburg Junior High School precinct and will still vote there in the upcoming elections.

Those who will be voting in new precincts are in the area between Dabney Street and Bowmar Avenue. Those voters will be moved from the No. 7 Fire Station to the American Legion Post on Monroe Street.

Voters along Smiths Alley, Rosedown, Ethel and the south end of Alma streets will also be moved from the Junior High School to the No. 7 Fire Station. Four homes on Melborn Place will also be moved into the Plumbers and Pipefitters precinct.

There are 11 voting precincts inside the municipal limits, but most will be unchanged by the new ward lines. A map showing the changes will also be made available at the City Clerk’s Office after the public hearing, Rogers said.

City Clerk Walter Osborne has said he will also mail out reminder cards before the election to voters who will be assigned to new polling places.