Millsboro has been growing by leaps and bounds — especially with the addition of large-scale housing developments. But as the population density shifts physically from one side of town to another, town officials are trying to keep the representative districts a bit more balanced.
As of May 7, they have gotten State approval to implement new maps.
Originally, election districts were spelled out precisely in Millsboro’s founding charter, so the town council had to update the charter just to give themselves permission to change the districts.
Any municipal charter changes must be approved by Delaware General Assembly. But, for Millsboro, the overall legislative process was getting close to the 2025 town election. House Bill 25 enacting the charter change passed unanimously this spring, but it required the signature of Gov. Matt Meyer to put the change into effect. Meyer signed the bill into law on May 7 — just one week before the candidate filing deadline for the 2025 Millsboro Town Council election.
The new charter language is broad: officially, the Town will use specific rules to update the three voting districts after each 10-year U.S. Census. But, from now on, the precise election boundaries can be written into a more flexible piece of town code, instead of an ironclad charter.
Millsboro already has its preferred map in hand. They had previously asked University of Delaware experts to study 2020 population numbers and create more balanced election boundaries. On May 5, the Millsboro Town Council unanimously voted (with Councilman John Thoroughgood absent) to adopt the new election map — pending the governor’s anticipated signature.
Millsboro’s population actually has been growing so rapidly that those numbers may already be somewhat outdated. But “I think it’s probably the best we could do based on the 2020 Census, and in a few years, we’ll probably be doing it again — but at least it makes us somewhat more fair right now,” Council Member Marty Presley summed up.
The Town still has three representative districts. With the governor’s signature, District 1 would not change, while District 2 stretches farther across town, using land gained from District 3.
District 3 would shrink geographically. It would generally wrap around the Route 24/Laurel Road region, west of Route 113.
District 2 would grow geographically. It would still include the northeast downtown region, and it would gain northwest Millsboro around Route 20/Hardscrapple Road, plus much of the southwest highway district around Hickory Hill and Handy Roads.
District 1 would not change, so it would still include the southeast quadrant of town, southeast of Main Street and east of U.S. 113.
Millsboro residents can currently submit their candidacy to represent Districts 1 and 2, with the filing deadline for the applications to be received at town hall being Wednesday, May 14. If there is a contested election, it would be held Saturday, June 14.
Learn more at www.millsboro.org/government/town_election.php or call town hall at (302) 934-8171.
In related news, Millsboro had submitted a second charter change request (House Bill 41) regarding committees and annexation, which the Delaware House has approved and the Senate committee is reviewing.