Jill Schramm/MDN Ward County redistricting committee members meet in county commission chambers Wednesday. From left are Ryan Davy, John Fjeldahl, Shaun Sipma and Donny Malcomb. Not pictured is Roza Larson.

Ward County voters will continue electing their county commissioners at large with a committee’s decision to pass on the chance to form districts based on new census data.

The county redistricting committee meets after each 10-year federal census to examine district boundaries in light of new population numbers. Ward County recorded 69,919 residents in the 2020 Census.

Although the committee decided at its meeting Wednesday against forming commissioner districts, the Ward County Commission could still do so through resolution or residents can petition for districts.

County commissioners haven’t indicated an interest in setting up districts. Ward County has five commissioners, all elected at large. With a district system, commissioners still would be elected at large but would run from within geographic areas.

“I’m not afraid of having districts,” said Ward County Commission Chairman John Fjeldahl, chairman of the redistricting committee. “That’s why I think it’s important we have this discussion, so everybody understands we do have options here.”

Minot Mayor Shaun Sipma, redistricting committee member, questioned whether requiring candidates to live within certain districts would make it more difficult to find enough viable candidates.

The committee also discussed the potential need to carve up Minot to make districts of fairly equal population and the likelihood of ending up with one very large rural district.

Committee member Ryan Davy, mayor of Des Lacs, noted redistricting could increase the likelihood of more commissioners residing in Minot than coming from across the county. Currently, no county commissioners live within Minot city limits.

Also, if commissioner district boundaries aren’t able to follow legislative district lines, it could result in the need for additional voting precincts in the county.

Had the committee decided to pursue redistricting, a plan would have been developed and a public hearing scheduled. Serving on the committee with Fjeldahl, Davy and Sipma were State’s Attorney Roza Larson and township representative Donny Malcomb of Berthold.