Vote — approved

Ayes: Thomas Galvin, Kate Brophy McGee, Mark Stewart, Debbie Lesko, Steve Gallardo

Item Text

102. JUSTICE COURTS PRECINCT LINES Pursuant to A.R.S. § 22-101, approve changes to the justice precincts, and pursuant to A.R.S 22-125(H) approve the creation of an additional justice precinct as shown on the maps on file with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors and accompanying legal descriptions, incorporated herein by reference. This action of the Board of Supervisors shall become effective on January 1, 2026 for the 2026 elections, and then become effective for purposes of the justice courts’ jurisdiction on January 1, 2027. State law requires the County Board of Supervisors to create sufficient courts, or redraw the justice court precinct boundaries according to section 22-101, in order to reduce the judicial productivity credits for any precinct which exceeds the 1200 limit. (A.R.S. § 22-125(H)). Four precincts currently exceed this threshold with eight more quickly approaching the limit. Creating a new justice precinct in the West Valley plus shifting boundaries within multiple other justice precincts as reflected in the proposed maps, address this statutory requirement. This is accomplished by splitting the White Tank Justice Precinct in half horizontally, moving voting precincts from the two neighboring, over-the-limit courts into the newly created court precinct, and by multiple other precinct shifts from high JPC precincts elsewhere in the County into neighboring low JPC precincts. Justices of the peace and constables collaborated on this plan for several months earlier in the year. In addition to achieving this consensus, we took into consideration the needs of the County Elections Department, opened our web site to public comments on this issue, and held two virtual meetings open to the public. All of this input came together to create a more balanced workload for all justice precincts, including the newly formed justice precinct. This redistribution of JPCs will allow the Maricopa County Justice Courts to better support the ideal of equal and fair justice for all court customers. The attached maps and exhibits provide further details. The information is also on file with Clerk of the Boards Office. Per further discussion with the election department director, redistricting lines need to be in effect October 1,2025 for the 2026 Primary and General Elections. (C-24-26-001-X-00)

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