City Precinct Borders, Polling Places Changed

The political map of Cambridge changed this January 1, when redistricting to reflect the city's declining population reduced the number of precincts.

A new state law requiring all polling places to be accessible to the handicapped has also forced the Election Commission to find new voting locations.

The University will allow the city to use many of its handicapped-accessible buildings on election day, a fact that makes voting more convenient for many Harvard affiliates. However, many of the undergraduate houses have been assigned to new precincts with unfamiliar voting locations.

In this election members of the two national parties will vote for state committee delegates and members of their respective ward committees, as well as presidential candidates. Twenty-two separate ballots have been prepared--for the Democrats and the Republicans of the 11 Cambridge wards.

Most of the ward committee elections are not contested, although battles are reportedly shaping up among the Ward 5 and Ward 3 Democrats. In a city not noted for GOP political activity, some of the Republican ballots carry no ward committee candidates.

September's state primary will let Massachusetts voters choose general election candidates for the state legislature, the House of Representatives, and the Senate seat currently held by Democrat Edward M. Kennedy '54.

Boundaries for the State Representative and Senate districts have yet to be determined because the controversial state redistricting system imposed earlier this year was struck down this winter as unconstitutional.

Local politicians expect that a revised redistricting plan will be in place by the September state primary. They predict that the Legislature will change the plan for other parts of the state, but that Cambridge will fare much as it did in the proposal that was rejected by the courts.