LEWISTON – Changing the boundaries for the city’s wards may solve polling place problems, according to city leaders.

Councilors are expected to discuss changing the city’s ward boundaries to more closely match new Maine House of Representatives district boundaries.

Changing the city’s ward boundaries could move many downtown Ward 6 voters into Wards 3 or 5, according to City Clerk Kathy Montejo. Many of those voters had a hard time getting to the Ward 6 polling place at the Elks Lodge on Lisbon Street in last November’s election.

“So changing the ward lines could take care of that,” Montejo said. “Both Ward 3 and 5 polling places are downtown or right on the bus lines, so it might be more convenient for those voters.”

Ward 3 voters go to the Lewiston Armory on Central Avenue. Ward 5 voters go to the Multi-Purpose Center.

Montejo expects councilors to vote on a new ward map at the Aug. 10 City Council meeting and discuss it at a work session between now and then. No work session has been scheduled, however.

The city has five state House districts and seven city wards. The state Legislature changed the boundaries for the state House of Representatives last spring.

Ward boundaries usually cross state House district boundaries, Montejo said.

“But we try and limit it as much as possible,” she said. “We don’t like to have more than two house districts in each ward. It cuts down on paperwork and confusion.”

According to state guidelines, each ward can have about 5,098 residents, based on the 2000 census. Montejo said she hopes to change as few ward boundaries as possible so the new map doesn’t create confusion.

“And we’re very careful about our elected officials,” Montejo said. “We don’t want to move someone out of their ward, and that goes for both city councilors and School Committee members.”

The city consolidated its polling places last year, going from 15 down to eight – one for each ward, plus City Hall for central voting and absentee ballot counting.

The change caused a problem in Ward 6, the largest city ward geographically. That ward runs from downtown to the border with Lisbon along the Androscoggin River, and Montejo said the city picked a spot in the middle for the sole polling place – the Lisbon Street Elks Lodge.

“That’s fine for people that live in the outskirts because they need a car to get around,” Montejo said. “But many of the people that live downtown don’t have cars. They rely on the bus or their feet.”

Montejo said the new map could put those voters in Ward 3 or 5. The current ward map also splits Bates College, and that would change. Residents in some dormitories vote in Ward 3 and others in Ward 5.

“I think we’d like to include the entire campus in Ward 5,” Montejo said. “They’d vote at the Lewiston Armory, which is just down the street.”