SALT LAKE REJECTS NEW WARD BOUNDARIES; ACCUSES STAKE OF GERRYMANDERING

Artist's Rendition of the Proposed Stake Boundaries

Salt Lake City, UT—Mormon Church leadership has rejected proposed ward boundaries in the new South Essex Stake in Essex Massachusetts. The Mormon Tabernacle Enquirer has learned that the boundaries have been rejected because of what one source calls “obvious, blatant gerrymandering.”

Among the many irregularities discovered were ward boundaries that actually cut through several homes. When asked to explain why some ward boundaries cut through individual residences, Church leaders were told that “well, sometimes one ward needs the Priesthood holder because he is the center for the ward’s basketball team but the other ward needs the kids for the youth program.”

Even more unusual was the discovery of a ward boundary that cuts right through the bedroom of an apartment. Local leaders explained that “yah, a lovely retired couple lives there, so one ward got the sister because she makes homemade sacrament bread and the other ward got the husband because he’s been in the scouting program for 47 years.” While denying the accusation of “horse-trading” among ward leaders, one source who wants to remain anonymous admitted that “warm, fresh sacrament bread is a fair swap for a descent scout master.”

Church leaders found that another ward had several pockets of ward members inside other wards. When asked to explain that situation, local leaders clarified that “the former stake president has kids throughout the stake, you know, they are a large, established LDS family here in Massachusetts.” They added that the former leader is “afraid either his wife or his children will stop going to church if the whole family can’t go together.” The former stake president’s wife, in a note attached to the boundary documentation, commented that “it is just easier for everyone to come over every Sunday for dinner if we all have church together.”

This is not the first time ward boundaries have been rejected amid allegations of gerrymandering. One source told the Mormon Tabernacle Enquirer of a stake that tried to make a ward that packed together “all of the most out-of-control Primary children” with leadership taken from the stake’s various psychological and criminology experts. Salt Lake explained that “the Lord wants those little bundles-of-energy and opportunities-for-adults-to-learn-patience spread more or less evenly throughout Zion.”