SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Political reporter Chris Vanocur found Utah's new political boundaries run through nearly a dozen homes Thursday.
ABC 4 is following up on the story Friday to get answers about why the lines run through homes.
"If that was my house I'd be very upset," said Mary Caufal.
"Seems like it's confusing," said Nick Rech.
ABC 4 brought these concern to Governor Gary Herbert, the Senate Chamber or any other lawmaker who would be willing to answer our questions.
We finally secured an interview with policy analyst Joseph Wade.
He says the new voting district maps looks confusing in a few areas, but it's not really.
He attributes the problem to limitations on the computer program used to make the boundaries. It's called the Geographic Information System or GIS.
"It's the nature of the GIS data we have to work with. It's not as accurate as we'd like it, but unfortunately it's what we have to work with," said Joseph Wade.
The system uses census blocks to draw the political boundary lines. A census block is a cluster of voters and it can't be split in Utah, so each home fits with an exact census block.
He says the lines through homes are the result of a computer program that can't perfectly place all the lines.
The Lieutenant Governor is responsible to explain where each split home really belongs.
Chris Vanocur pointed out a confusing problem, but lawmakers say they have a solution.
They passed SB 3005, which gives the Lieutenant Governor power to clear up any confusion. He has until January 2012 to complete this task.
"Is the system flawless? If the Lieutenant Governor were to sit down and say
definitively this home belongs in this district. Would he be accurate?" asked ABC 4's Noah Bond. "I think the Lieutenant Governor could come to that conclusion," replied Wade.
