City Council approved new Council voting districts as a measure to keep population in each of the seven districts as balanced as possible after nearly ten years of growth. The newly approved map still must be approved by the U.S. Department of Justice at such time they will be affective, prior to Spring 2012 primaries. The previous Council districts were approved in 2003 after getting the results of the decennial census, as are the new boundaries based on the data received from the 2010 census recently recording Madison’s population as 42,938. Population in new districts is ideally 6,125 and the final approved redistricting map results in a low deviation from that ideal of 2.4%. Polling places are currently being secured and coordinated with both Madison and Limestone Counties. Of note, for the first time, Madison will have two council member districts representing areas of Limestone County where continued growth is expected.