The Fayette County Commission could soon be asking the U.S. Department of Justice to review new voting districts that would equal out population in the districts.

The issue came up at the county retreat Aug. 8 at Callaway Gardens and was spurred by the inequality of the size of the districts.

Executive Assistant Carol Chandler said the first district, represented by Robert Horgan, has 21,491 voters, while Commissioner Herb Frady’s district has 27,655 voters and Peter Pfeifer’s third district has 14,538 voters.

The county submitted new districts to the state’s reapportionment department, but received a new set of maps from the department.

“The state has to go on population from the last Census, which was 91,000,” she said.

The new districts contain populations of 31,115 in the first district, 29,799 in the second and 30,000 in the third.

Commissioner Peter Pfeifer wondered if sending these maps to the Justice Department might end up costing the county dearly.

“I just wonder if they’re going to say we have to have district voting,” he said.

But Commission Chairman Jack Smith said it was better to be proactive in dealing with the problem.

“We’re much better off acknowledging the situation than having a solution forced upon us,” he said.

The county commissioners poised Thursday night to send the maps to the state for approval, but Pfeifer objected.

“We talked about having things on our agenda and this was not. We need to have some public input,” he said.

Commissioner Eric Maxwell said Pfeifer had plenty of time to study the issue, but said the issue should be continued until the County Commission’s special called meeting Aug. 20 at 8:30 p.m.

“This is something that could possibly be challenged, so I’ll go along with tabling the issue until then,” he said.