Like all government bodies in Missouri, Jefferson City soon will have to redraw its ward and precinct lines to match the population changes the 2010 U.S. Census showed since the 2000 Census.
The city's official population grew by 3,443 in that decade.
State and federal constitutions, laws and the city's Charter all require voting districts to be "as compact and contiguous as possible" and, more importantly, to "contain, as nearly as possible, an equal number of inhabitants," Janice McMillan, the city's deputy director of Planning and Transportation Services, told a City Council work session on Monday night.