Utah state representative Craig Frank (R-Cedar Hills) moved to a new home on January 1, 2009, but he believed his new home was still in the district he had been representing. However, the new home was not in his district. No one noticed, and he filed for re-election in 2010 and was re-elected. Then he himself discovered the problem. The legislature may be called into special session to redraw the boundaries. See this story.
The district is overwhelmingly Republican. Frank received 77.47% of the vote in the November 2010 election. His Constitution Party opponent, Curt Crosby, received 6.82%; his Democratic opponent, James Crismon, received 15.71%. Thanks to Rob Latham for the link.
Gee — Now even ex post facto gerrymanders are in order.
P.R. and App.V = NO district resident stuff needed.
Legislators represent ALL Electors-Voters.
There is an updated story where he says that Frank has not resigned.
When the districts were drawn, there was apparently a reference to the “city limits”, and it may have been intended to include an area that at the time was in the process of being annexed to Cedar Hills. The county election officials in Utah County had been treating the area as being part of the district, and in 2010 not only did Frank run for office in the wrong district, 600 voters in the area voted in the wrong district for the house, senate, and congress.
There is now the possibility of legislation that would exempt the residents of the area from paying state income taxes, until either new boundaries are drawn for 2012, or the current boundaries are corrected.
It is probably unreasonable to expect someone to check the official maps in the state capital, when the county shows your residence in the district. So their error would effectively deny Frank the right to run for office. Had he and they known, he could have run in the “correct” district.
Utah uses a procedure where local party officials fill legislative vacancies. But can some who could not legally run in a district nonetheless win the district for his party, and be replaced by someone else, while being denied an opportunity to be represented by a party official since his neighbors are also outside the district.
It appears that the area is a newly developed subdivision, with some of the district boundaries not corresponding to streets, and in some cases cutting through houses, as if they corresponded to old property boundaries before the area was subdivided.